Prologue

Brownridge, Vermont


Three years ago

Like any typical teenage girl, I have a few things I like to do. Shopping or going to the movies with friends, playing the piano, even reading books is fun to me. But nowhere on that list, is hiding in a closet in an enormous mansion, on a Saturday night. And that’s exactly where I find myself on this particular evening, with three evil rich snobs searching the house looking for me. This is definitely not my idea of a good time.

I had turned down going to a party with Derrick and Emma to come here, hoping I would make some friends at my new school. But I suddenly wished I were anywhere but here.

For some reason, Stephanie Brown, the self proclaimed queen of the school, had asked me over for a slumber party with her two best friends. At first I was skeptical, considering her obvious dislike for me. She believed I was moving in on her territory by being friends with her ex-boyfriend Ryan. It didn’t matter that we both explained to her time and again that we were only friends. In her mind, he was hers, and just talking to him was an act of aggression. She had convinced the whole school to hate me.

Thankfully, I still had two of the best friends anyone could ask for; the only problem was, they went to a different school. I was stuck at some snooty private school with kids who didn’t want me here, so when Stephanie asked me over, I hoped it was the start of some kind of compromise. Boy was I wrong,

The evening started out okay, she showed me around her gigantic house, making sure I noticed all the expensive looking furniture, rich silks and classic artwork that were displayed throughout the rooms.

After a gourmet dinner, complete with fingers bowls, I followed Stephanie up to her room, which happened to be decorated like a picture in a magazine. The walls were red and white, with photos placed perfectly around the room. Above her bed was a portrait of Stephanie, which I thought was tacky. A fact I would keep to myself. The distinct smell of Gucci perfume filled the air; it was such a strong odor I figured she bathed in it, or spilled the bottle. Either way the smell was overpowering. I used to like the scent, but now I feared I could never use it without thinking of her.

She sat on her bed with her puppets, as I now called Trudy and Tara, beside her while I sat on a chair near the closet. She started to ask me questions I didn’t like. “So Sarah, do you think you’re pretty?”

I was taken aback by her question. “Uh…I don’t know, why?”

She scowled. “I asked Ryan why he was talking to you all the time. And do you know what he said?”

I didn’t like where this was going. “No,” I answered quietly.

“He said that you were sweet and pretty. And that he liked your dark eyes and your long brown hair.”

I looked to Trudy and Tara for help, but they were giving me what I thought to be evil smiles. This wasn’t good.

“I can’t do anything about your eyes, but I can do something about that hair.” She bent down and picked something up, that was hidden under her bed. Okay, now I was worried. I had a feeling I knew what was about to happen, but I hoped I was wrong.

She turned back around, holding a very large pair of shiny, silver scissors. Oh shit. She smiled and looked at me and then at the scissors.

Now I knew why they invited me here. It wasn’t to become my friend.

God I was so stupid, why would I think that after months of her ignoring me; the ice queen would suddenly be nice to me? Not that I liked her in the least, but since she had made my life so difficult, I actually hoped that things would change at school since she asked me here.

I glared at the scissors, and made the only decision that I could think of. I took off out the door of her bedroom.

As I was running down the hall, I heard her yell. “Get her girls.” This was so cliché, I was living a horror movie, and I couldn’t believe I fell for it.

So here I am hiding in the closet, and I have no idea what to do about it.

If there was a light bulb in here, I wasn’t going to turn it on, for fear I’d give away my position. It was so dark I couldn’t see the hand I held out in front of my face. A floral scent wafted around the tiny cubby, I stretched out my hand and felt fluffy towels that were folded neatly on a shelf beside me.

I sat down on the floor trying to think of what to do next. Maybe, if I waited until they walked passed the closet on their hunt to find me, I could sneak out and use the phone I saw in the hallway. I could call my parents and tell them to pick me up. Then I could sneak outside and wait behind some bushes. I really didn’t want a haircut. I couldn’t believe she was going to cut my hair because her ex-boyfriend talked to me and became my friend. What was I thinking, of course she would.

Someone walk passed the closet I was hiding in. I waited a few minutes until I was sure they were gone before deciding to make my move. I couldn’t hide in here all night.

Opening the door very slowly, I crawled out; looking around to make sure I was alone. Since my eyes had adapted to the darkness of the small closet, they now felt strained from the wash of light coming from the fixture above me. The hallway was clear, so I continued to crawl slowly on my hands and knees along the soft beige carpet. The phone was just a couple feet away on a small table against the wall. I was almost there when I heard a squeaky voice I recognized as Tara’s. “There she is,” she yelled, pointing at me.

Crap, they saw me. I stood up and ran as fast as I could for the phone. I picked it up and dialed my number quickly. My mom answered, “Hello.”

I managed to get the words “come get me” out before a well-manicured hand reached for the receiver. I turned to see Stephanie slam her finger down, hanging up the phone.

She smiled wickedly. “This is going to be so much fun.”

Tara and Trudy held on to me while I pleaded with them to stop. I hoped that they would feel guilty and let me go. But when I saw humor in their eyes, I knew they were just as evil as Stephanie was. As I struggled, I felt the first cut and some of my hair that had taken years to grow, fall to the floor. I panicked, stomped on someone’s foot, and took off running.

“Get her, now!” the evil witch screamed. I tripped on a bump in the carpet, giving Tara a chance to grab my arm before I could get away, her pointed nails dug into my skin.

They held on tighter this time, and as hard as I tried, I couldn’t get away. I sobbed quietly as they chopped off my hair. My heart sank with every snip of the scissors. The strands brushed my leg and foot as they fell to the floor. It felt like feathers caressing my skin. I closed my eyes, hoping that was all it was, a pillow torn open above my head.

When the awful snipping sound stopped, I opened my eyes to see most of my hair laying in clumps at me feet. I could no longer pretend they were feathers. I knew that the brown clippings curled up along the hardwood floor, were mine. I stared down at them with a feeling of numbness, my long mane that I took such care of, was now taunting me from the floor. When I was little, I asked to have long hair just like my mother, after that she would brush it lovingly every night, buying products to keep it soft and shiny. She said it was one of the reasons she wanted a daughter, to dress me up and play with my hair. And now the remaining pieces lay on the floor, being stomped on by Stephanie’s open toed red sandals.

They let me go and started to laugh. “I don’t think Ryan will be interested in you now. My goodness Sarah, what happened to your hair? You know, you really should stop going to your dad’s barber,” Stephanie said sarcastically.

Trudy and Tara laughed at her joke with twin high pitched screeches.

I ran to her room, picked up my bag, and took off in the direction of the front door. As I rushed out, I heard her shrill voice calling after me. “Oh Sarah, are you leaving so soon?” And of course more laughter followed.

I stumbled out of her house into the night. In the darkness, I followed her walkway to the road. Feeling embarrassed and angry, an ache formed in my chest before the tears started to fall. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going and I started walking aimlessly. My tears were flowing hard, obscuring my view. My foot caught in a crack in the road, and I fell to the ground. My hands dug into the asphalt, scraping my palms. I pushed myself up and continued walking. Would this horror movie ever end? I hoped to wake up in my room, having dreamed the whole thing, but try as I may; I was still here wandering the roads, praying I was heading in the right direction.

After what seemed like hours, I saw headlights behind me. A car pulled along the sidewalk, and the passenger side window slowly rolled down. “OH, MY GOD SARAH! WHAT HAPPENED?” my mother yelled from the front seat of her car.

Ch 1. Sweet Revenge

Present day

Three years later, and the memory of that night still disturbs me. It wasn’t something I chose to think about, but ever since Ryan emailed me last week, it’s been on my mind. I read the sentence I had scribbled on my notebook for my English essay again. It didn’t make any sense, so I decided to give up.

Throwing my pen onto my open book, I lay down on my bed to stare up at the dirt splotch on my ceiling. It was left by a ball I had thrown up a year ago. I knew I should wash it off, but I sometimes found myself staring up at it, and seeing shapes in the dust. Once, after studying for a difficult exam in biology the shape of a happy face appeared. It made me feel better about the test. But now, I lay staring at it obsessing over a memory. After all this time, I hated that I could still get upset about the snotty girl who chopped off my hair just because I was friends with Ryan Crenshaw, a boy she considered hers.

Why couldn’t I let it go? I never returned to that school anyway, and he moved back to New York where his family was from. I didn’t want to go there in the first place. Why would I? Everyone knew that students from Hadley Academy didn’t accept regular folk like me. If you weren’t a member of the country club, you weren’t worthy. The only reason I went was because my mom was a teacher there, and she bribed me with a car when I turned sixteen, so of course I caved, it was a car. But I was right; nobody accepted me, well except for Ryan, and because he was my friend despite the problems it caused, meant even more to me.

For some reason, the upper class families who could trace their families back to the original settlers of Brownridge considered them selves above the rest of us. To them, anyone who didn’t have an inheritance or an executive position in a multimillion dollar company wasn’t worth their time.

Even the town itself was separated so that we didn’t really mix all that much. In the center, was the business district, which consisted of a mall, a multiplex and a variety of businesses and restaurants. Outside of the business district was where the public schools were located. Residential subdivisions were placed throughout the town. Rock Lake wrapped around the town and flowed into the river that led to River Park.

The north side was where the rich people lived, Lakeview Drive held a number of mansions that overlooked the lake. It’s also where the marina and country club were located. My old school was just a few streets away. So I was stuck mingling with people that never wanted me around.

I stared up the dirt blotch, restless and irritated with my thoughts. If it wasn’t for Ryan’s email I wouldn’t be obsessing about the past. I had a good life now, with friends, a hobby and a great school.

So in order to get this nonsense out of my head, I jumped off my bed and sat down at my computer desk. Opening my email, I scrolled down to the one labeled ryanc19, under the subject column said ‘how are you?’ I stared at the tiny letters for a few seconds, sucked in a deep breath and read his message again: Hey Sarah, I’m sorry it’s been so long since I emailed you. I’ve been busy with my girlfriend Jenna. Remember I told you about her, the girl I knew from public school? Anyway, how are things going with you? Have you seen Stephanie lately? If you do, tell her that I said hi. LOL. I’m so glad I don’t have to see her heavily made up face anymore.

I hope you got a chance to get back at her for what she did to you. I always felt bad for what happened, even though you insisted it wasn’t my fault.

I’m sorry that I moved away without making it up to you, but maybe someday I can. If I’m ever back in Brownridge, I’d love to take you out. Anyway, hope to hear from you soon. Ryan.

Clicking the reply button, I started my message. Telling him about the time I saw Stephanie near the beach, my hair was still short, but styled in a cute spiky bob. My friends and I were enjoying a day of sun. Her mouth popped open in shock, and I described the look on her face in detail to him. Derrick, who knew about what had happened, draped his arm around me and whispered in my ear as though we were a couple. Of course we weren’t, he was my best friend, but she didn’t have to know that. A few of his friends were also there, dressed in only swimsuits, showing off they’re tanned muscular bodies.

To her, I was surrounded by three hunky guys all vying for my attention. So I wasn’t surprised that she stared at me coldly, shooting daggers in my direction. I just smiled and waved at her. Making her so angry, her face turned red. She stomped off the beach with her puppets following her. I also told him that I would love to see him if he ever came back.

After I sent the email, I signed off. Feeling better and less restless, I decided to return to my homework.

The sound of the phone ringing interrupted a very confusing Chemistry problem. I threw my pen down again and answered the phone. “Hello.”

“Hey, what are you doing tonight? Do you want to go to a movie?” Emma asked on the other end of the phone.

“Sure, but you know I hate going there when I’m not working.”

“I know, but I’m bored and what else is there to do around here, on a Friday night?” she whined.

I laughed. It was true, if you didn’t drink and party like some of the people we went to school with. There wasn’t a lot to do. It was either, go to the movies or hank out at River Park and watch a bunch of guys skateboard on the large ramp someone built a few years ago. I’ve been down there a few times. It usually consisted of a bunch of teenagers standing around drinking beer watching as the skate boarders went up and down the ramp. It was like watching a tennis match. If you’d had a few beers, you could get a little dizzy after a few hours of your head swaying side to side.

“Fine, come pick me up. I’ve had enough homework for one night.” I put my books away after we said goodbye, and went downstairs to wait for her.

“What’s Derrick doing tonight, or did you call him?” I asked Emma once I was inside her white Ford Tempo.

She shook her head, her red curls danced along her t-shirt clad shoulders. “I didn’t call him, I felt like a girl’s night tonight.”

As she drove, she tapped her finger on the steering wheel to beat of the music playing on the radio. I glanced out my window, watching the lights from the store fronts on Main Street.

It didn’t take long to get to the multiplex, and after she parked in the crowded lot, we climbed out and followed an older couple inside.

We were in line for tickets, when Emma leaned in and whispered. “Look, there’s a bunch of kids from school. Is that Laura Johnson with one of the Tate brothers? Turn around, I want to see your face,” she whispered to someone across the room.

I followed her gaze to see what she was looking at, just as a group of kids from school were walking into a theater. I didn’t notice anyone specifically.

“Damn, I didn’t see who she was with.” She looked disappointed.

“Why do you care?”

“You know how nosy I am, I need to know what’s going on at school just in case someone asks me,” she said as though the answer was obvious.

We paid for our tickets and moved to the concession stand. “Do you want popcorn?” she asked walking toward the line.

“Not really, do you?”

“Yes. With this smell how can you resist?” She stood behind a man with two kids that looked about eight. The popcorn smell was overwhelming as it wafted through the air. Most people couldn’t resist buying it once they smelled it. But that’s exactly why I could resist, the smell.

“I’m just going to have some peanut M&M’s.” I glanced at Emma and saw her stick her tongue out at the boys in front of us. I elbowed her.

“What? They started it,” she whispered.

I rolled my eyes. How old was she, ten? They were kids, why stoop to their level, besides they were cute. They even matched; both of them had brown hair hidden under Sponge Bob ball caps, wearing the same baby blue t-shirts and torn jeans.

They looked at me and grinned, twin dimples poking out from their freckles, and then, just as Emma had said, they stuck their tongues out at us.

They’re father had paid for their popcorn and was walking away. They followed him, but just as they reached the end of the counter, the boys turned back around, and did it one last time. Before I realized what I was doing, I stuck my tongue out at them.

Emma noticed and smiled.

“What? They started it,” I heard myself say.

The movie was good, and afterward I went back to her house for a sleepover. We often had them on weekends.

We both had the next day free, so we decided to take a road trip. Our town was too small for a day spa, but there was one in Langton. The only problem was that it was an hour away. The drive went by fast, with kids from school to talk about, and my new CD I wanted Emma to hear, the time past quickly.

Once we arrived, we parked in the lot near the spa, then made our way across the busy street.

Even though a bell chimed alerting our entry, the woman at the front desk never looked up from her nails. She was filing them and talking on the phone.

We stood in front of her for several seconds waiting patiently.

“So what are you wearing tonight?” she asked into the receiver.

Emma started to giggle, and then a hiss of air escaped her mouth as I dug my elbow into her ribs. The woman still didn’t look up at us.

She had unnaturally blonde hair that was in a high ponytail. Her bangs were teased, almost standing straight up above her forehead. Her blue eyes were highlighted with dark blue eye shadow.

“Excuse me,” I said leaning forward.

She looked annoyed that I had interrupted her conversation. “Hold on for a minute would you?” she said to the person on the other end, and then placed the phone on her messy desk. “Yes?”

“We would each like a manicure and pedicure.”

“Do you have an appointment?” Her voice was full of impatience.

“No we don’t, is that a problem?” I really hoped we hadn’t just driven an hour for nothing.

She sighed heavily, as if I was asking her to do something that wasn’t in her job description. “Actually the girl for Suzie’s one o’clock appointment didn’t show up, so you can have hers,” she said nodding to me. “And Hannah is free, so you can both go on back. I’ll let them know you’re here.” She picked up the phone and continued with her previous conversation.

We stepped through the cream colored curtain, entering a very relaxing room. There were four black leather chairs with footstools, in the center. Along the side of the walls, were shelves of nail polish and creams. Soft music poured out of invisible speakers, and I could smell the scent of vanilla and cinnamon wafting all around.

We took a seat on a bench against the sidewall.

A few minutes later, the curtain opened, and two women walked in. One was tall, with short, wispy blonde hair. The other was shorter and a little round, with long brown hair. The tall one, who must be Suzie, called my name and motioned for me to come over.

I picked the kind of nails I wanted for both my feet and hands, then I leaned back, ready to be pampered.

Emma sat in the chair next to me. We chatted back and forth, engaging the women in a conversation about the movie we had seen the night before. The hot guy in the film became the main conversation with them. I just sat back and listened. When Suzie was putting the finishing touches on my manicure, we heard a girl’s raised voice coming from the other side of the curtain.

“What do you mean, you gave my appointment away? I made it a week ago.”

“I’m sorry, but you were an hour late and now Suzie is booked solid until tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? How dare you give my appointment away and then tell me that I have to wait until tomorrow. Do you know who I am?” the girl asked with a snooty tone, which made me glad I was in here, and not out there. The voice was shrill, and had the air of superiority, the combination was vaguely familiar. They argued some more as we finished up.

Emma and I said our thank yous, and pushed through the curtain.

Stephanie Brown stood in front of the desk. Her long, honey blonde hair flowed down her back; hand on hip and tapping her high heeled shoe on the tiled floor.

I averted my eyes hoping she wouldn’t notice me. I pinched Emma’s elbow as we walked over to wait our turn to pay for our treatments.

Stephanie glanced at us quickly; an uncomfortable expression crossed her face when she recognized me.

I flashed her a fake smile, refusing to acknowledge my hatred for her. Expressing any negative emotion would only make her think she had hurt me in some way.

“Oh my god Sarah, is that you?” Her tone of voice was as fake as my smile.

I nodded slightly, trying to avoid contact with her.

She turned toward me leaning against the counter. “How are you?” she asked loudly, her voice held an edge of sympathy.

“I’m great, how about you?”

“Oh you know me.” She tossed her hair, pausing for effect. “My dad has me so busy with charity events and what not; I barely have time for myself.” Yeah right, who was she trying to kid, there wasn’t a charitable bone in her body.

“Mmm” I mumbled, knowing she wasn’t looking for a conversation.

“You know,” she said softly, glancing around. “I always did want to apologize for that incident your first year of school?” She acted as though she didn’t want to embarrass me, but if that were true, why bring it up in public?

That was the last straw I was tired of this girl treating me like crap. I wasn’t going to cower any longer. “What incident?” My voice was loud. I tapped the corner of my chin, as if I was thinking. “Oh right, that night your friends held me down while you cut my hair off,” I said louder than necessary with a big smile on my face.

The lady at the front desk looked at her with disapproval as she rang up our bill. Emma paid, and then leaned against the counter beside me.

I continued speaking before Stephanie had a chance to defend her actions. “That was the day before I got that adorable hair cut at that salon my mom took me to, remember Emma?” I turned to look at my friend.

Emma matched her voice to mine, a few octaves higher than normal. “That’s right, it was such a great cut, the guys were lining up at school to date you,” she said adding her version of the story.

I blushed. “Emma, it wasn’t that many, just a couple of guys asked me out. God remember how much fun we had, that day at the beach.” I stopped as if suddenly remembering she was there. I turned to look at Stephanie. “Did you ever get back together with your ex boyfriend, what was his name…” I snapped my fingers. “Ryan, that’s it. What happened there?”

Her face reddened. “Oh yes, I did after you transferred. He asked me out again, and we’ve been happy ever since.” She nervously picked at a button on her brown leather jacket.

Oh wow, this was fun. “Huh… you know that’s funny, because I just remembered, I heard he transferred to a school in New York shortly after I left.”

Her skin paled. “Oh right, yes he did. But we call each other, and he visits on weekends.”

“Really, because just last week in an email, he told me how happy he was with his girlfriend he’d been with since he moved back to New York.” I raised my eyebrows at her and added a faint smile.

She scowled at me, all pretence evaporated.

“You have a good day now,” I said as sweetly as I could. I added a little finger wave, and then quickly exited the spa.

Once we were inside the car, Emma turned to me and stared. “That was amazing.”

I giggled. I had imagined doing something like that for three years. “God that was fun, I want to do it again.” I was so happy I couldn’t stop smiling.

Our drive home was quieter. I fell asleep, and when I woke up, we were home. “Wow, that didn’t take long,” I said, my voice sleepy.

“Maybe for you. It was a little long and boring for me.” Even though, her voice was hard, she smiled.

“I’m sorry, the next road trip I’ll drive, while you sleep.”

“I’m going to hold you to that.” Emma smirked at me as I got out of her car, and then honked as she drove away.

Ch.2 The Dream

The fact that he was present, made me realize I was dreaming. In reality, he wouldn’t be caught dead talking to me. It was early evening, and I was sitting on one of the swings from my brother’s old swing set, staring up at the starry sky. It was peaceful, with a warm breeze gently brushing my face; my hair fell into my eyes.

I had just pushed off the ground and swung upwards when I heard a creaking sound behind me. I glanced back to see him open the gate and walk into our yard. He smiled at me, his hazel eyes sparkled in the moonlight as he sat down on the swing next to mine. We just sat together silently, swinging gently, looking up at the moon and the stars. It was so…familiar.

Suddenly a bright light shone from behind us, followed by a very shrill noise….or was it a scream?

Thump, Thump, Thump. There was a banging sound coming from somewhere, interrupting my sleep. I wasn’t ready to wake yet, so I threw the pillow over my head to muffle the noise. “Sarah, get up, Mom’s been calling you for over an hour,” Alex, my fifteen year old brother, bellowed from the other side of my bedroom door.

“I’m up,” I yelled, then closed my eyes. I jumped at the sound of another thump. “Go away!” God, can’t anyone sleep in around here. I heard him walk down the hall, leaving me to nestle under my covers to go back to sleep. Just as I was drifting off again, I realized what day it was, Monday. Darn it, I was going to be late for school. Filled with panic, I jumped up to have a quick shower.

By the time I was finished getting ready for school, my mom had already left. There was a note on the kitchen table telling me that she had taken Alex to school and that I had better not be late. There was a threat in there too, but I wasn’t worried. She was pretty lenient. Well, only when my dad was away on business, she was always joking with him that someone had to be the grown up. My dad was more like a kid than an adult, more like a friend than a father. My brother and I were lucky in the parent department, yes my mother was a little more responsible than my dad, but we didn’t really have many rules. She trusted us to make the right choices. She was very good with guilt, so before I did something stupid, I would think of the guilt trip she’d lay out…and change my mind.

I took a juice box and a granola bar from the pantry. Grabbed my coat off the hook and headed out the door.

It was hot and sunny out and I instantly regretted the coat. Shaking it off, I ran to my car; a used silver, blue Toyota Rav Four, that was given to me for my sixteenth birthday, for reasons I didn’t feel like dwelling on. It was an older car, but I didn’t care, mostly because I didn’t have to pay for it, with money anyway. I paid for the insurance and gas with the money I made working at the multiplex. With only a few shifts a week, I didn’t make a lot. But I was pretty good at saving.

As I drove, I noticed that only a few leaves had changed. It was the second week of September, and this beautiful weather wasn’t going to last long.

I arrived at my school, Hamilton High, a large gray stone building that slightly resembled a prison. Parking in the student parking lot wasn’t always easy, since I was usually late. I was often left with the spot farthest from the entrance, and today was no different.

Rushing to the front doors, I noticed my mom’s car, a red Jaguar convertible. It was her gift to herself after she turned forty. She worked here, unfortunately, as the vice principal. It’s not as bad as it sounds, having a mother that works at your school. It was pretty big, and I didn’t see her that often. This was my last year of high school anyway. In the fall, I was heading to NYU for their teaching program; I was going to become a music teacher. I had been in piano since I was five. My mother’s dreams for me were to become a teacher, so I thought combining our dreams was a good compromise.

I was running from my locker, after having put my bag inside, when the bell rang. Crap. I was late again. I’m not good with mornings, so this happens every so often.

Just as I turned the corner heading to my first period English class, I slammed into someone, our sneakers squeaked against the white linoleum as we collided. A pile of books fell to the floor in a heap.

I bent down to pick them up. “I’m so sorry” I stammered, but the words were barely out of my mouth before he took off down the hall.

He had picked up his books so fast I didn’t even see his face. All I noticed was the back of his head; his hair was shaggy and brown. He was quite a bit taller than my five foot five. The gray sweatshirt and jeans he was wearing wasn’t helpful at identifying him either, since a lot of kids in this school dressed that way.

“Miss Samson, is there a reason you’re just standing in the hallway when class is starting?”

Turning toward the voice, I saw Mr. Henderson standing in front of his classroom. His build was short and stout, with a receding hair line that made his forehead look gigantic. And since his glasses always fell to the bridge of his nose, no matter how many times he pushed them back, a few kids made fun of him. I however, would never do such a thing.

“You wouldn’t want me to report you to your mother would you?” he said in a snarly tone.

“I’m going,” I mumbled as I took off in the direction of my first class. I wasn’t that late, the kids were just getting settled, opening their books and getting out their pens, when I snuck into my seat.

“You’re late,” Derrick, one of my best friends whispered from behind me. Miss Reynolds, our English teacher was just starting her lesson, and didn’t notice him talking. “We’re meeting Emma outside today for lunch,” he whispered again. I nodded my head, focusing on the rest of the lesson.

My next class was my favorite, Music. We were studying a piece that our teacher had composed. It was complex and challenging to learn, luckily I loved a challenge. I was to play the piano for the piece and was excited for the night we would get to perform for the school and our parents. We were working on our own today, each of us learning our parts.

I was lost in the music when Miss Fitzgerald came over and stood beside me. My fingers stilled as I glanced up at her. “Wonderful Sarah, your doing great, I can’t wait to hear the whole piece. Julliard will be lucky to have you,” she said smiling. She stood with her arms crossed in front of her, leaning on the edge of the piano.

“Thank you Miss Fitzgerald. But I doubt I’ll get a job there after University.”

“Sarah, you could be a concert pianist, and yet you choose to teach. They should welcome you with open arms.”

I blushed, unable to hide my excitement at her words, even though I couldn’t get my hopes up. I have always wanted to teach there, except I knew it was a difficult position to acquire. I would just have to wait and see.

Her words put me in a good mood, so after class was over; I headed to my locker, humming the tune I had been playing.

I had to ditch my books and get my lunch. Fumbling with my locker door, my arms loaded with books; one slipped out of my fingers, and landed on the floor with a thump.

I bent down to pick it up and realized it wasn’t my name that was written on the front, it was Lucas Tate. Why did I have his book? I shoved it into my locker, and ran outside to meet my friends; I’d figure it out later.

They were at one of the far picnic tables. Since it was still warm outside, a lot of the tables that were placed throughout the schoolyard were occupied with other students that wanted to enjoy the sun.

“Hey guys” I said, sitting down next to Emma.

Derrick was on the other side, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they had been staring into each other’s eyes. They both had a huge crush on each other, but neither of them would admit it. The only reason I could think of for them to hold back their feelings was that we all had been best friends forever. Whether that was the reason or not, I had no idea.

“I heard you were late again,” Emma mumbled, her mouth full of ham sandwich.

I opened my lunch, taking out the pepperoni and cheese sandwich, saving the apple and caramel cake for later. “I wasn’t that late, besides it wasn’t my fault. I bumped into someone, and had to pick up my books.” I didn’t mention that I was running late before that happened.

Derrick opened his mouth to say something, except I wasn’t listening. I just realized why I had Lucas’s book. It was him that I bumped into. That explained the fast departure.

Lucas Tate was his twin brother. Oh yeah, I mean Logan Tate the most popular guy in school, although nobody knows why. He’s kind of a jerk, but gets away with it because of his looks. He’s the type of guy, you could stare at all day, but hoped wouldn’t speak. He’s also the boy who starred in my dream last night.

Emma waved her hand in front of my face. “What are you thinking about?”

Snapping out of my own thoughts, I looked over at her. “I just figured out who it was I bumped into this morning.”

Derrick glanced at me, with a confused look on his face. “What do you mean, you just figured it out? How could you not know, were your eyes closed?” He smirked at his own joke.

“Ah… no, but they ran off before I saw who it was. But when I was putting my books away, I had an extra one, with Lucas Tate’s name on it.”

Emma’s eyes widened. “Well that explains it.”

Lucas was Logan’s twin brother, but they were nothing alike. Logan loved to be the center of attention while Lucas went out of his way to avoid it. The only people I ever saw him with, were his two best friends, Andy Taylor and Kyle Roberts. They were normal, I had a few classes with them, and we’ve talked some.

Lucas was different in another way from his brother. He wore glasses and kept his brown hair long, almost reaching his shoulders, as if he didn’t care what it looked like. Logan’s was always cut short and styled to perfection, always dressing in the latest styles. Lucas however wore mostly sweatshirts and jeans everyday.

I was deep in thought when I heard Derrick’s voice. “What is wrong with girls in this school?”

“What are you talking about?” Emma asked, tossing back her long red curls and batting her olive green eyes at him. Why didn’t Derrick see when she was flirting?

“Look at Allison Morey over there flirting with Logan. He treats people like crap, and stupid girls like her still hang all over him, just because he’s a pretty boy.” He shook his head. “I just don’t get it.”

While he was ranting, I glanced over to where Logan was sitting with his friends and sure enough there were a few girls flaunting themselves at him.

“Don’t ask us, you don’t see me or Sarah over there do you?” Emma defended us, as girls who went to this school. I really couldn’t tell them that I was dreaming about him after this. It was true what they were saying, and I was not interested in Logan at all. Well, only to look at maybe. But why would I dream about him?

“Hey Derrick, guess what we did on Saturday?” Emma asked smiling at me.

“What?” he asked, absently playing with his sandwich wrapper.

“We went to the day spa in Langton; you know the one we went to a month ago.”

“Yeah I know, so what about it? And please don’t go into details about what you two got waxed, because I really don’t want to know.” He shook his head in disgust. We laughed; it was so much fun grossing him out with our girl talk.

“No that’s not it, Sarah saw that witch who cut her hair. And she was brilliant, you should have seen her.”

He smiled then looked at me. “Please tell me that you got in a chick fight and Emma video taped it.” A playful grin spread across his face before taking a drink of his coke.

“Would you let me tell you,” Emma said laughing. “She just basically humiliated her, by reminding her that after everything she did to Sarah she still didn’t get what she wanted, Ryan. And that Sarah was happy no matter what she did to her. Her face was beet red she was so mad.”

“I bet that felt good.”

“You have no idea. I have waited three years to let her know she didn’t hurt me. And I think I got my point across. It was a good day.” I grinned widely.

“So Sarah, what are you going to do about Lucas’ book?” Emma asked me changing the subject.

Derrick glanced at her and answered for me. ”What’s the big deal, just go up and tell him that you have it. He’s sitting right over there.” He gestured with his hand. I looked over to where he pointed. Lucas was sitting with Andy and Kyle two tables away. I hope he didn’t hear us talking about him.

Emma was looking at Derrick like he’d lost his mind. “She can’t just go over there, he doesn’t talk to anyone. He won’t talk to her.”

“What’s the big deal?” he asked again, shrugging his shoulders.

“You are such a guy.” She tossed the crust from her bread down on the table. Emma was the only seventeen year old I knew, who still didn’t eat the crust off her sandwich.

I decided to interrupt them. “Oh my god it’s not a big deal, I’m going.”

I stood up and walked over to where Lucas and his friends were sitting, while Emma and Derrick watched me.

As I approached their table, Kyle and Andy smiled and nodded to me. Andy asked if I was finished my homework for our Chemistry class, I said yes. While we were talking, Lucas never looked up from the book he was reading. “Lucas?” I said a little shaky. Nothing, he still didn’t look up. “Lucas!” I said a little louder.

Andy and Kyle just shrugged. “Dude!” Andy smacked Lucas’ shoulder.

He finally glanced up at me, his glasses falling forward a bit. He pushed them back then glared at me with his deep hazel eyes. He was very good looking when you were close enough to notice. He was tanned, his brown hair was a little long, but it looked good on him if you liked the rugged look on a guy. He had a strong jaw, and a sprinkle of freckles along the bridge of his nose.

“What?” he said, interrupting my thoughts.

I was a little flustered at his annoyed expression. “Um… I don’t know if you know me? My name is Sarah”

“I know who you are,” he interrupted.

“Okay…You dropped your book when I bumped into you this morning. I didn’t bring it with me, but if you want to meet me at my locker. I can give it to you.”

He looked at me like I was speaking a different language. “Why don’t you just bring it with you to history next period, and give it to me there.”

I was shocked. “You’re in my history class?”

Now he looked even more annoyed. “I sit behind you in the back corner, and you probably didn’t notice me because you’re always talking to Emma.”

I felt a twinge of guilt, but it was quickly replaced by irritation. I didn’t mean to hurt his feelings. “Okay, I’ll do that.” My voice was cold, but I didn’t care.

I nodded to the other guys and walked back to our table. “You were right. I shouldn’t have gone over there. He’s weird.” I told them what happened. Emma made sure she said I told you so.

Ch.3 Derrick and Emma

Our history teacher was Mr. Henderson, but when we arrived, he wasn’t there yet.

My desk was next to Emma, as Lucas pointed out. I set my books down and walked over to him.

He was already there, just where he said he sat, in the back corner behind me. No wonder I never noticed him, he was scrunched down in his chair with his book standing up on the desk, his head behind it. “Are you hiding from someone?” I asked as I approached.

He looked up, surprised. “Just reading, you’ve heard of it haven’t you?”

“Nope, never,” I replied dryly. “Here’s your book.” I tossed it, smacking him in the shoulder. I didn’t intend for the book to hit him. However, I wasn’t sorry that it did.

I was about walk away when I heard him speak. “You don’t like me do you?”

I spun around; extremely surprised that he had spoken. He even had a slight smile on his face. Oh my god he smiles. “I don’t know you. This is the most you have ever talked to me, and so far you’ve been kind of a jerk.”

He didn’t change his expression. I guess he knew he was rude and didn’t care. “I’m not used to socializing, I like my privacy,” he smiled grew wider. I was so shocked; I didn’t know what to say. “I guess I need some practice?”

“Practice with what?” I asked dumbly.

“With talking to people, maybe you can help me with that.”

I stood in place, not able to speak, or move, his sudden change in behavior confused the heck out of me.

“Okay people, get to your seats, so we can learn something,” Mr. Henderson said as he walked in. He dropped his books on his desk with a loud thump.

Saved by the annoying teacher, I gave Lucas a timid smile and hurried back to my desk.

When class was dismissed, Lucas was the first to leave, so there were no more awkward words between us.

I stood up from my chair.

Emma grabbed my arm and pulled me into the hall. “Talk,” she demanded as I opened my locker and traded my history for my Chemistry book.

The door hit another locker with a clang as I flung it open. “He actually had a conversation with you!” she whispered. “He never speaks to anyone, he even smiled.”

“I know. I was as shocked as you are. I was the one who had trouble speaking.”

“What got into him?” She held her books closer to her chest.

“I have no idea.” I pulled my book out, and slammed the door shut.

“Was he nice? He’s so cute; he can’t be as bad as Logan.”

“Well he didn’t say that much, but so far he’s not much better.”

She frowned. “Really? So you think being a jerk, runs in their family?”

“It must. But I’ve got to go. Bye!” I called over my shoulder as I rushed off to the chemistry lab. I didn’t want to be late for another class.

I took my seat, just in time. Mr. Holland was just handing out our assignments. “Okay class, pick a partner. I want you to estimate the reactions of the three pairs of chemicals. Then when we’re finished, we’ll record the actual reactions.”

I looked over at Jenny Carson. Who usually partnered with me, but she smiled apologetically. Nicky Gray was leaning over her, already chosen to pair up.

“Hey Sarah, do you want to be partners? Nick is sick today. So if you don’t, I’ll have to work alone. You won’t do that to me, will you?” Andy asked, standing beside me, leaning his arm on my desk.

“Sure I’ll be your partner,” I said with relief, I didn’t want to work alone either.

He sat down at the empty seat where Jenny had vacated.

I began with estimating the reactions for the first pair.

“I’m sorry about the way Lucas treated you today. He’s not usually so rude. Not that he has a chance to be. I’m sure you’ve noticed he’s a little antisocial.”

“Yeah I’ve noticed.” I scribbled my estimation, and then handed the paper to Andy for him to do the next one.

“He’s a really good guy, but he’s had some bad experiences. People aren’t always that friendly to him. Just because he looks like Logan, doesn’t mean he acts like him.” He wrote down his answer, tapping his finger on the desk.

I was about to ask him what he meant, but Mr. Holland started asking questions about the results of our assignment. Andy handed me the paper, and I finished the last one. I tried to talk to him a few more times, but Mr. Holland seemed to notice before I opened my mouth.

When I arrived home after school, I went up to my room where I spend most of my time. Mom and dad let me redecorate recently, and I love it. We painted the previously dark beige walls, a nice cream color, and I added splashes of color with cool pictures that took me weeks to find.

We put a small couch and TV at one end of the room, and my bed and dresser on the other. My desk, which held my computer, sat in the center under the window.

I sat down on my bed and started my homework.

There wasn’t much to do, only a one page essay on our favorite poet. I chose Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

I finished quickly, turned my stereo on, and lay back on my bed to listen to the music play softly. My mind drifted to the two conversations I had with Lucas, well if you could call them that, he wasn’t what you’d call chatty, but when we did talk, it felt… I don’t know… nice. No that was the wrong word, it felt…right. What was I thinking? He was a total jerk and wouldn’t even speak to me at lunch. But there was something about his voice that sounded somewhat familiar. My thoughts were heading in a weird direction, so I turned up the music, and soon fell asleep.

I woke up to someone gently shaking me. “Wake up sleepy head,” my dad said smiling down at me. “Did you have a long day?”

I smiled too, his brown hair was a bit messy, and his dark brown eyes, that looked so much like mine, looked tired. The gray suit he was wearing was wrinkled from the long drive, and he smelled of juicy fruit gum, his favorite flavor. I was so happy to see him. He had been gone for a week on a business trip selling his ideas for a new video game for a company here in Brownridge.

“More of a weird day, but I don’t want to talk about it. How was your trip, did they like your ideas?” I asked, sitting up and leaning against my headboard.

Disappointment flashed over his face. Oh no, I thought, until he smiled. “Of course they did. Did you really doubt your old man?”

“Not really, like mom says, you’re an overgrown child who likes to play video games.”

His smiled vanished as he pretended to be hurt. “Ha-ha, come on, mom’s got supper on the table.”

The next day at lunch, my friends and I ate in the cafeteria. It was raining, so eating outside at the picnic tables were out.

While Emma and Derrick saved me a seat, I waited in line for food, deciding what I wanted to eat. Everything looked good, but since the pizza smelled so delicious I couldn't resist. I took a piece off of the hot plate, and waited for the person in front of me to pay, so I could take my turn. I was about to step up to the cashier, when someone stepped in front of me. I saw who it was and wasn’t surprised. “Excuse me, there’s a line!” I said to Logan.

He looked at me, and smiled so sweetly that I guess I was supposed to say: “Oh it’s you; of course you can cut in front of me.” I don’t think so. “I’ll be really quick. You don’t mind, right sweetheart.” He actually winked at me as he leaned over to grab a slice of pizza.

When he lifted it off of the tray, a piece fell on my hand. The cheese was very hot, “Ow,” I snapped. Taking a napkin from the canister, I wiped away the gob of cheese and sauce. It left an orange stain on the back of my hand. “Yes I mind, get back to the end of the line,” I growled. But of course he ignored me and paid for his lunch. The jerk had the nerve to turn around, and smile at me.

After I told my friends what happened, Emma asked, “Why did you let him get away with that?”

“What was I supposed to do? Cause a scene?”

“Yes,” she said. “It would serve him right.”

I glared at her. “And that would have embarrassed me,” I whispered trying not to attract any more attention to myself than I already had. She shrugged her shoulders and continued to nibble on her sandwich.

While I ate my pizza, I was lost in thought. What made people like Logan think they were so special; they could get away with anything. Looks? He wasn’t the only one in the school that was good looking. Actually Derrick was quite a hottie, with his tall, solid frame and sun streaked sandy hair. His eyes were a light blue that really stood out from his face. He had a few girls that would occasionally come over where we sat and talk to him. He was always nice but never dated any of them.

He was so into Emma, it was obvious, to me anyway. I could see why, Emma was the one of the best people I knew. She was also one of the prettiest girls in our school. But the great part about her; was that she didn’t know it. For some reason, she was self conscious about her looks. She was always complaining about her height, which was five foot two, and having red hair was horrifying to her. She complained about it constantly. I loved the color of her hair; it was so vibrant, just like her personality. And her beautiful curls that flowed down to her back were the envy of most girls I knew. It was no wonder why Derrick liked her so much. I wonder why he never did anything about it. Maybe he just needed a little shove in the right direction.

“So guys,” I said, catching them off guard.

Derrick’s mouth was stuffed full of sandwich. He looked like a squirrel saving for the winter. I narrowed my eyes at him wondering why he had shoved so much into his mouth.

Emma swallowed the coke she had just taken a drink of. They both turned their attention to me.

“I’m working Friday night, so I can’t hang out, but why don’t you two come and see a movie? There’s a good thriller coming out this week.”

They both looked a little shy. They had been to movies before, but always with me there.

“Um, actually I was going to hang out with Pete that night. But I could change my plans if you want to Emma?” Derrick said, after he swallowed the large mound of bread. Pete was one of Derrick’s guy friends; he lived next door to him. He and his friend Cory sat with us at lunch sometimes.

Emma’s face was a little red when she answered him. “Sure, sounds fun.”

“Cool, I’ll pick you up at seven.”

Emma’s face turned crimson now. Going to the movies was one thing, picking her up sounded like a date, it was so cute.

“Great, it’s settled then,” I said before either of them could back out.

In our history class, Emma was giving me the evil eye.

“What?” I whispered innocently. Mr. Henderson was giving us a lecture on the civil war, and I didn’t want him to here us. He was pretty strict; often giving out detentions just for talking in class.

“You know what. What was that about? Telling us to go to the movies together, just the two of us, it sounds like a date. He’s even picking me up.” She had her text book sitting up on her desk, and leaning behind it, so the teacher wouldn’t see or hear her.

I looked down at my book and whispered. “Well it’s about time. Someone had to make the first move. I guess it had to be me.”

“Do you think I like Derrick?” she whispered, looking surprised.

“I know you do, and you’re not alone either.”

Her mouth flew open; she sat up in her chair, knocking her book down with a thud. All eyes in the room turned to her. I braced myself for one of Mr. Henderson’s famous punishments, but he just gave Emma an icy glare to silence her. That was close; he didn’t usually let people get away with anything, he must have been in a good mood, a rarity for him.

While I was paying attention to the lesson, I glanced back, to see if Lucas was in class today. I hadn’t noticed him. He was there, in his seat, listening to Mr. Henderson. He looked at me and smiled, just as I was about to turned my head. I whirled around still unsure why he was suddenly acknowledging me.

On the way to my next class, Emma was hounding me with questions.

“Emma, I have to get to Chemistry. I’ll call you after work tonight around nine, okay.”

“Fine but don’t forget. If you don’t call me by nine thirty, I’m calling you.” I heard her yell as I was rushing down the hall.

I made it just in time. I took my seat and looked around for Andy. He was sitting on the other side of the class. I had handed in our work yesterday, so we wouldn’t be pairing up today. I was a little disappointed. I wanted him to explain what he meant about Lucas and Logan. But I guess it would remain a mystery since he was sitting three rows over.

Work was so busy that my feet were killing me. Tuesday nights were cheap nights, and we were always packed.

When I got home, I was so tired, I practically crawled into bed. My feet and legs were aching from standing for hours. The soft mattress and warm blankets felt like I was wrapped inside a warm, soft cocoon. “Ahh,” I sighed as I snuggled into a comfortable position. The fresh smell of laundry soap on my sheets made it even more comforting.

I dialed Emma’s number. “Hello,” she answered.

“Hi, I really can’t talk long, work was busy. I’m so exhausted; I might fall asleep talking to you. What do you want to know?”

“Are you serious, what do you think I want to know? Why do you think he likes me? And why do you think I like him?” Her voice was about two octaves higher than normal.

I was really enjoying this. I should have done something about these two a long time ago. “Are you saying you don’t? What’s that?” I asked. There was a distant pounding coming from her end.

“Just my sister, she wants the phone. Anyway, I’m not saying that, but why do you think so. Am I that obvious?”

She was really stressing over this. “Look, I’m going to be honest here, even though I would love to string you along, because I’m really having fun. I’m tired though, so I’ll tell you that it is obvious only to me, that you like each other. I have noticed it for awhile, but it wasn’t my business.” The pounding got louder, and now was mixed with yelling.

There was a muffled scratching sound, and then nothing. “Hannah, if you don’t stop, I’m telling mom and dad when they get home!” Emma yelled from a distance, I heard footsteps and then the muffled sound again. “Sorry, my annoying sister is driving me nuts. Where were we? Right.” She answered her own question. “So what’s changed, why butt in now?”

It was hard to focus on our conversation with all the interruptions. I had to remember my train of thought. “Because honestly, I think you would be great together and I want you to be happy.”

There was silence on the other end of the phone, from Emma and Hannah, who must have given up. Then I heard her sigh. “Do you really think he likes me that way?”

I smiled; I had her. I could go to sleep soon. “Yes I do.”

I heard a little squeal on the other end. “Thank you for butting in.”

“My pleasure, I’m hanging up now, I’ll see you tomorrow”

Even though, I was very tired, I didn’t sleep well. I tossed and turned so much; I woke to find my blanket and sheet on the floor. I was curled up in a fetal position trying to keep warm. I don’t know if I had a dream or not, but when I woke up, I could only remember a face…Logan’s.

Ch.4 Lucas

he rest of the week kind of dragged, nothing too exciting happened. Well, after my talk with Emma, she seemed to flirt more with Derrick, and now he actually noticed, even returned the attention. I thought I might feel like a third wheel, but I was really enjoying myself watching them. And it felt good knowing that I had a hand in making my friends both happy by giving them the push the obviously needed.

The dreams of Logan continued to haunt me. It was a little unnerving dreaming of someone I didn’t particularly like. Thursday night I had a disturbing one about the two of us walking hand in hand, down a dark street. I sensed a presence behind us, when I turned around, I glimpsed a hooded figure. With a blink, he was gone. I woke feeling tired and restless.

Friday night I had to work at the concession stand, which I hated. Usually by the time, I got home, I smelled like popcorn. Most people love the smell, but when you’re around it for hours, it stays with you. It gets stuck in your nose and replaces all other scents. And the constant sound of corn popping could get annoying after a while. I was in a bad mood all around, and my lack of sleep the night before certainly didn’t help.

I was taking money from a customer when I saw Logan Tate standing in my line, it only added to my mood. As he moved closer to the front, I noticed he seemed different. His hair was a little longer but in a cute way. He was dressed a little more casual, wearing a long sleeve gray T-shirt and jeans. I thought he looked better, more approachable. I was pretty sure this change wouldn’t improve his attitude though.

“Hi,” he said as he stepped to the front of the line. “I didn’t know you worked here.” His voice even sounded better.

“Yup. What can I get you?” I was still annoyed with him about the pizza incident.

“Two large popcorns, and two large cokes.”

I nodded, and turned around to fill his order.

“Lucas!” someone yelled, “we’ll meet you in the theater.”

We both glanced in the direction the voice came from, and there stood Kyle and Andy.

I was so surprised that I almost shouted. “You’re Lucas?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, who did you think you were talking to?”

Still in shock, I answered him. “You’re brother.”

His expression turned from confusion to anger. “Sorry to disappoint you!” he growled.

“I’m not disappointed,” I blurted, which caused my cheeks to heat up.

He raised his eyebrows and gave me a cocky grin.

“I didn’t mean that…I just meant…here’s your popcorn!” I practically threw it at him before spinning around to get his drinks.

“Why did you think I was Logan?” he asked with a slight chuckle. He seemed to be enjoying my embarrassment.

“Um…you’re not wearing glasses.” I placed his drinks on the counter and told him the total.

“I only wear them at school.” He paid for his food, and moved over, so the next person could order.

While I filled it, I turned my head to look at him. “Don’t you need them to see?”

“I usually wear my contacts, but when Logan started acting like a jerk, I got tired of girls slapping me in the face.” I laughed. “You think that’s funny?”

“Yes I do. Did he get slapped too?”

“Yeah, but now that I wear my glasses, and dress differently, he gets the brunt of it.”

I laughed again, placing a lid on the cup I had just filled. “Good, he deserves it.”

He stood in silence, leaning on the counter absently tapping his fingers on the wooden top, while I filled orders. He didn’t seem to want to leave.

“Is that why you don’t talk to anybody, because you’re afraid to get slapped?” I asked him, after handing a customer their order.

He looked thoughtful a moment. “I used to get blamed a lot for the way Logan acted, so it’s easier to stick with my own friends.”

I felt a sorry for him, and since I had no customers at the moment, I strolled over to him. “It must be hard, having him for a brother.”

“It’s not so bad, he doesn’t act like that at home.” He glanced at me, our eyes locked. We were standing on opposite sides of the counter, leaning towards each other.

“Excuse me, could we get some help here? The service here really sucks.” Lucas and I jumped back guiltily.

I looked over to where Emma and Derrick were grinning wickedly. They were standing in front of my cash register waiting to be served. I was so wrapped up in our conversation; I didn’t even hear them approach.

Lucas cleared his throat. “Uh Sarah, I better get in there with the popcorn before Andy starts to gnaw on the seats.” He waved as he walked away, juggling all the food, he had an armload. I hoped he didn’t drop any of it.

When I glanced back at my friends, they were still staring at me. “What?”

Emma spoke first. “What were you talking to Lucas about?”

“How did you know it was him? I thought he was Logan,” I said, wandering back over to stand in front of her.

“Well he does look like Logan without his glasses, but I doubt you’d be staring into his eyes.”

I felt my face go hot again. “I was not.”

Derrick laughed at my expression. “Oh yes you were.”

“Order something or go away,” I said, only half kidding.

They placed their order, still grinning at me. I poured their drinks and filled their popcorn in silence, listening to their banter. When I was finished, I shoved their drinks at them, nearly sloshing coke on Derrick's black denim jacket.

“Are you going to tell me what you guys were talking about or not?” Emma asked me, after she took a sip of coke from of her straw.

“No I’m not, I’m working. Now go enjoy your movie.” I waved them away. They laughed as they headed into the theater.

Since my shift was over in an hour, I wouldn’t see my friends come out, a fact that I was relieved about. I knew Emma wasn’t finished grilling me about Lucas.

At home, I watched a movie with my parents, a romantic comedy starring Mandy Moore. I guessed it was my mom’s pick, or we’d be watching a war movie. My dad was really into them.

Alex was at a friend’s house, so it was just the three of us. I was lying on the soft blue suede couch with my feet on my mom’s legs. My dad was sitting on the black leather La-Z-Boy on the other end of the couch. Both the couch and the chair faced the big-screen TV my dad got for Christmas.

The movie was good, but when it finished, I headed up to bed, where I replayed my conversation with Lucas. He wasn’t what I expected. From afar, he seems aloof and antisocial. But the more I talk to him; I’m beginning to think that he’s not really like that. And after our conversation tonight, I realized something else. It wasn’t Logan I’ve been dreaming about. It was Lucas.

Ch.5 Shopping

I started my homework the next morning, so I'd have the rest of the weekend free. After that was done, I wanted to relax before I had to go to work for my one to seven shift.

My mom opened my door, as I was finishing up my algebra. “Hey, how about a girl’s day today, shopping, lunch, maybe a manicure?”

It was extremely tempting, but of course, I couldn’t. “Sorry mom, I have to work at one o’clock, remember?”

“Oh that’s right. Well we’ve got time for a little shopping, and an early lunch. What do you say?”

Why not? “I’ll be ready in fifteen minutes.”

In the car, driving to the mall, my mom asked, “So what’s new at school?”

I smiled. “You’d know, wouldn’t you?”

“I’d know how your grades are, but not about your friends, or boyfriends,” she said with a laugh as she stopped at a red light.

I groaned. “Great, just what I want to talk to my mother about, boys.” A horn honked, we both glanced in front of us to see that the light had turned green.

“Oops,” she said as she pulled away. “Come on, I’m old, I need to live vicariously through you. You have to give me something.”

Her whining amused me, so I gave her what she wanted. “Fine, but you’ll be disappointed with my love life. But I think Derrick and Emma are going to get together.” I leaned over to turn the radio station.

“It’s about time. Who made the first move?” She slapped my hand away and turned it back to her easy listening station.

“I did.” She raised one eyebrow but didn’t say anything. “I got tired of all the flirting and the glances when the other one wasn’t looking. Plus I think Derrick didn’t make a move because he didn’t want me to feel uncomfortable. I had to work Friday, so I suggested they go to a movie without me. Since it was my idea, I’m obviously okay with it.”

She smiled. “Pretty smooth, I’m impressed.”

“Yeah, Derrick basically jumped at the idea, and offered to pick her up.”

“Good I’m glad, they’ll finally be happy. I saw all those looks they gave each other.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure the only ones that didn’t see it, were Derrick and Emma.”

We pulled into the busy parking lot. My mom found a spot at the back of the lot. On Saturday’s, the Mall was always busy, and today was no different. We weaved through the rows of cars, passing shoppers with their arms full of plastic bags.

Once we were inside, we headed straight to the jewelry store. I picked out a really cool ring, it was silver, and the design was a rose, with black accent. I couldn’t wait to wear it. I looked at a few necklaces and saw a really nice one. It was white gold with a diamond star pendent. “Mom come here, you have to buy this. It would look amazing on you.” I held it up for her. She put down a watch she was admiring, and walked over to me.

“You're right honey, its perfect.”

Now that we were set with jewelry, we moved onto clothing.

My mom saw some nice shirts in a store window that she said would look awesome on me, and when I tried them on, I had to agree. I bought the shirts, and we each bought a dress.

All of that shopping made us hungry, so we headed for a restaurant I had never been to before. It was kind of fancy, more my mom’s style than mine. She was paying though, so I didn’t argue.

The hostess looked familiar. She was about my age, maybe younger, with light blonde hair, pretty blue eyes and freckles. I thought she went to my school, but I didn’t know her name. We followed her to a table by the window where there was a lovely view of the mall parking lot.

After we were seated, we talked a little. Mom was relating some gossip about a teacher. And of course, she wouldn’t tell me who.

The waiter approached from behind me, when I heard his voice, I looked up. “Good afternoon, here are your menus,” he stopped speaking when he noticed me. “Oh hi, are you following me?” asked a very surprised Lucas.

I was just as shocked as he was. “No, I had no idea you worked here, my mom brought me.”

“I guess we have more to learn about each other.” His eyes held mine; his voice was full of meaning. He continued to hold my gaze for a few seconds, and then appeared embarrassed as he remembered my mother sitting beside me. “Oh god, um… would you like some drinks while you look at the menu?”

My mother was smiling, and smirking at me. “Sure, I’ll have a glass of white wine. Sarah what do you want?”

I blinked at her, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. “I’ll have a coke.”

He nodded and walked away.

I started to sip my water to quench my dry throat and read the menu, refusing to look at my mom.

“Someone has a crush on you,” she said in a singsong voice, not looking up from her menu.

“Don’t start.” The last thing I wanted was to talk about Lucas, and have him walk up behind me.

“Don’t start what? I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Her face took on a look of pure innocence. Yeah right. “Wasn’t that Lucas Tate, he looks better without his glasses, don’t you think?”

“Mother, be quiet, if he hears you, I will kill you,” I whispered. “So anyway,” I said louder, trying to change the subject. “Emma called my cell phone while you were trying on dresses. She said she had a great time last night and that Derrick held her hand during the movie. Isn’t that cool?” I didn’t wait for her answer. I just continued to rattle on. “What are you going to order? I think I’m going to have the club wrap, and a tossed salad.”

“You’re babbling, you only babble when you’re embarrassed. Wow, your face is really red.” She was starting to irritate me, so I scowled at her. “And I’m done, I won’t tease you any more,” she said grinning. I heard her whisper something that sounded like this is so much fun.

I looked up at her, about to tell her to be quiet when I noticed that when she smiled like that, she was really pretty. I have often thought she was, with her long wavy dark blonde hair and her bright blue eyes, but when she smiled, her dimples came out, and her face brightened. I hoped I looked half as good as she did when I was her age. In spite of the fact that she was having fun at my expense, I smiled at her.

Lucas came back with our drinks and took our order. He didn’t say anything other than what he had to.

It didn’t take long for him to return with our lunch.

“How was the movie last night Lucas?” I asked him as he placed my lunch in front of me.

He looked relieved that I broke the tension. “It was really good, I love action movies, have you seen it yet?”

“No, I don’t go to the movies that much. I like to stay away from work, when I don’t have to be there.” Feeling restless, I started jiggling the silverware. My mother frowned at me as my knife and spoon clanged together noisily.

He nodded. “That makes sense. Do you work tonight?”

“This afternoon at one o’clock, right after we’re done here.”

“Yeah, but she only works until seven,” my mom added, after taking a sip of her wine. Could she be more obvious? “So Lucas; how’s your mother? I haven’t seen her in awhile.”

“She’s good, she and my father just got back from a small vacation.”

“That’s great, where did they go?”

“New York, but just for a long weekend.”

My mother smiled at him. “Oh that sound’s nice, I would love to go and see a play. Did they get to see one on their trip?”

“Yeah but I don’t remember which one though. I’m not really into plays.”

“I love them. Sarah we should go to one some day, what do you think?” My mother peered at me over the flowered centerpiece.

“Sure mom, sounds fun,” I mumbled, leaning my elbow on the table with my hand resting on my forehead, wanting her to shut up and let Lucas leave.

He grinned. “Well enjoy your meals,” he said before walking away, and heading to another table.

“You have good taste. I like him better than his brother. He’s never in my office.”

I groaned, god this was so horrible. “Let’s eat.” I started to stuff my face to discourage conversation.

When we were finished, my mom paid, leaving a generous tip. I waved to Lucas, and practically ran out of the restaurant.

“You do realize I’m never going out to eat with you again,” I said as I walked quickly ahead of her through the mall. I could hear her laughing behind me.

I dropped my mom off at home, and then drove to work. It was a nice, warm sunny day. But since I had to be indoors for the next six hours the weather was wasted on me.

I was selling tickets today with a new guy named Zack, he started last week. He was friendly and good-looking with light brown hair and brown eyes. He went to a different high school, one that was closer to where he lived.

As we worked, we chatted, and when I found out we were the same age, we compared notes on the kids in our schools; it helped to pass the time.

At home during dinner, my father and brother teased me about the boy my mom said had a crush on me. Oh, she was really going to pay. “Mom, he doesn’t like me, just last week he wouldn’t even talk to me. When he did, he was rude.” I scraped the last of the spaghetti off of my plate.

“Well I guess he changed his mind. I can tell when someone’s interested, and it wasn’t just coming from him.” She grinned at me over her wine glass.

“Okay, that’s enough Maggie. She’ll never talk to you, if you keep teasing her,” my dad said, smiling at me with a wink. I stood up and walked into the kitchen to put my dish away. I came back into the dining room and stood next to my mom.

“Fine, I’m sorry Sarah. I won’t tease you anymore, today anyway.” She laughed.

“Mother!” I started to protest, but she cut me off.

“I’m kidding. I’ll try not to bug you. I promise.” She gave me a hug; I had learned along time ago there was no point in fighting it because she’d just hold on tighter.

“Fine, as long as you’re really going to stop,” I said when she finally released me from her grip. “Emma’s going to stay the night, okay?”

I heard them yell it was fine as I headed up the stairs and into my room. I turned on my stereo to listen to my favorite CD and grabbed the book I was reading. After about an hour, I was really getting into the plot.

Emma came in and interrupted me. She was carrying a bag of dill pickle chips, my favorite, and two cokes. “Should we watch a movie then gossip the rest of the night, or head straight to the gossiping?” She dropped the chips on the bed in front of me and handed me my soda.

I smiled. “Gossip, definitely.”

We ate junk food and talked all night, I had a blast. This was one of the parts of our friendship we couldn’t include Derrick in; he was too much of a guy for this. Emma went into detail about her night with Derrick. They hadn’t kissed yet, but she was sure it would happen soon.

We fell asleep around one or two in the morning; I was too tired to notice.

I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again I was in my backyard, slow dancing in the moonlight. I was so at peace and happy, I’d never felt like this before. I didn’t know who I was dancing with, but I was afraid to look up, as if the movement would ruin the mood. We danced for a while, his warm, gentle hands softly rubbing my back, my arms around his broad shoulders. He lifted his head, which was leaning on mine as I looked up at him. Lucas smiled down at me and said very softly, “I love you Katie.”

I jerked awake, sitting up in bed. Emma’s head lifted, she squinted at me with sleep filled eyes. “What?” she whispered.

“Nothing, go back to sleep.”

She closed her eyes, and I lay back down, but couldn’t go back to sleep. Why was I dreaming of him and why did he call me Katie?

I must have dosed off sometime later because when I opened my eyes it was daylight. A quick glance at my watch told me that it was ten o’clock. I loved sleeping in on Sundays.

“What time is it,” mumbled the lump under the covers. I sat up and kicked the large bulge of blankets. “Ow.”

I laughed. “Ten o’clock, wake up.”

She crawled out of the bed and stumbled behind me downstairs.

“So, are you coming to lunch with Derrick and me or not?” Emma asked between

bites of pancake.

Her pancake was so saturated with syrup, I had no idea how she could taste it. “Do you want more syrup? I see one spot that isn’t soaked.”

She stuck her tongue out at me. “Shut up, and answer the question.”

I thought about it. “No, I’m going to stay here, and have a lazy day.”

She smiled no doubt thinking of an afternoon alone with Derrick. “Suit yourself. Okay, I’m done eating now. I’m going to use your shower; he’ll be here in an hour. Can I borrow that cute blue dress you bought yesterday?”

“How did you know I bought a dress, I forgot to show you?”

“I peaked in your closet this morning when you were in the washroom. So can I, please?” she begged, clasping her hands together like she was praying.

I laughed. “Fine, I haven’t even worn it yet, but knock yourself out.” I took a bite of my pancake, savoring the sweet maple taste of the syrup.

She jumped up and down. “Yeah!”

“But I want it back tomorrow,” I said after swallowing.

“I promise.” I heard her say faintly since she was already at the top of the stairs.

I finished my pancake, and then put our dishes away.

While Emma was in the bathroom getting ready, I picked up my book, and started to read again.

“God I hate my hair.” I heard her mumble from the open doorway of my ensuite bathroom. I laughed softly to myself, she had no idea how pretty she was, and it was mostly because of her red hair. But every time I tried to tell her that, she ignored me.

She shut the door to the bathroom, so the hair dryer wouldn’t disturb me, and I started to read again. I was in the middle of a chapter when someone knocked on my door. “Is everyone decent?” Derrick asked.

“Yeah come on in.” I tossed my book aside, and sat up leaning against my pillows.

“Hey,” he said, walking into my room. The bed squeaked as he sat on the edge, looking down at my T-shirt and yoga pants. “Why aren’t you ready to go?” he looked genuinely curious as though he really wanted me to go with them.

“I don’t feel like it, I thought you guys could use some privacy.”

He frowned, raising an eyebrow. “So, how did you know?” was all he said, knowing I would understand him.

“That you and Emma liked each other?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Well, I have known you since birth, I know you better than my own brother. Emma and I haven’t been friends quite as long, but since kindergarten, I could pretty much guess what she was thinking.”

Both of our parents had been friends since college. My mom and Derrick’s mom were best friends, so when we were born we had no choice to follow in their footsteps. We grew up together; he was like a brother my own age. One I actually liked to hang out with.

He gave me a thoughtful look, and then said softly. “You are the best friend I have ever had, and I don’t want anything to ruin that, so if this bugs you at all, tell me?”

I leaned toward him, grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. “You’ve been holding back because of me. No don’t deny it,” I added when he shook his head. “I want you both to be happy, and what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t let that happen. So what I am trying to say is, go for it, seriously.” We smiled at each other. “Okay, that’s enough mushy stuff for one day, don’t you think?”

“Oh Yeah,” he replied, throwing a pillow at me.

Emma finally finished, and they were headed out the door when she turned and came back in. “Who’s David?”

“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”

“I went to the bathroom last night, when I got back in bed you were mumbling the name David.”

I didn’t know I talked in my sleep. “I was? That is so weird, I don’t know any David.”

She shrugged her shoulders, smiled, grabbed Derrick, and took off.

I lay back down on my bed, David? I knew I dreamt of someone, but it was Lucas, not somebody named David.

Ch.6 Shadow

I woke up the next morning feeling rested. Thankfully there were no dreams of anybody last night.

I even arrived at school on time, shocking my friends, who I walked with from the parking lot. I did notice that they drove together in Derrick’s car.

“So how was lunch yesterday?” I asked as we headed into the school.

They both smiled like they had a secret. “Great,” they said in unison.

“So in translation, I’ll have to wait to get Emma alone before I get any juicy details.”

She grinned. “Exactly.” We all laughed, and headed for our separate lockers.

In my first class, I turned around, and stared at Derrick. “So did you kiss her yet?”

He looked a little smug. “Well, you did say to go for it, didn’t you?” His grin spread across his face.

“Good for you,” I said as Miss Reynolds started the class. I turned around and listened to her lead a discussion on Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice, the book we were to begin reading.

After class, I walked with Derrick down the hall, but separated at my locker.

He had next period with Emma, so he had a big smile on his face as he rushed away.

In music class, we partnered up, and practiced the new piece. I worked with Hannah Smith who played the violin. The two instruments sounded good together, I couldn’t wait until tomorrow when the whole class played.

The cafeteria at lunch was always noisy. Get a couple hundred teenagers in one place, and there’s bound to be yelling, laughter and sometimes food fights. Today wasn’t bad, but there was a buzz of conversations in all directions in the large lunchroom. The smell of grease and tomato sauce filled in the air. We were sitting at our usual table, but Derrick’s friend’s Pete and Cory were sitting with us.

I had just taken a bite of my tuna sandwich when I heard Pete say. “So Sarah, since these two are finally dating,” he said pointing to Derrick and Emma, “how about you and I go out sometime?”

I looked up from the book I was reading and gulped down the bite of sandwich. Sometimes I took a book to lunch, and with the extra male conversations that involved sports and girls, I needed it today.

Derrick, who was about to take a bite of his bologna sandwich froze with his mouth open. His eyes darted to me, and I knew he could read my panicked thoughts. He sat his sandwich down and smiled. “Oh please Peter, Sarah is way too good for you,” he laughed, “what happened to Carrie, or was it Michelle?”

Peter gave Derrick a smug smile and leaned back in his chair. “I have room in my life for all of them. So Sarah, what do you say?”

Thank god for Derrick. I knew he’d know that I wasn’t the least bit interested in Pete. He was a very nice guy, and with his light blonde hair and blue eyes, he was quite a catch. But he was a little bit of a ladies man, like he said, he usually dated more then one girl at a time, and that just wasn’t for me.

“Although it is tempting to become a member of your harem, I think I’ll pass.”

Peter placed his hand on his heart held, acting like I had hurt him, making everyone laugh.

“Hey Pete, did you know Sarah and Emma had a sleepover on Saturday?” Derrick suddenly asked. I glanced at Derrick wondering why he would bring that up. Why would Pete care?

Pete smiled. “You did? So who won the pillow fight?” he asked, looking over at Emma and me. We were sitting next to each other.

Emma and I exchanged confused glances. “What pillow fight?” Emma asked.

“You know? When girls have sleepovers, they always have pillow fights.”

We stared at him in disbelief. He was smiling, waiting for our answer. Derrick and Cory were laughing, nudging each other.

I glanced at Derrick to explain. “Pete thinks that girls have pillow fights in sexy lingerie when they have sleepovers,” Derrick said, filling us in.

“They do, I’ve seen it in movies,” Pete said, defending himself.

I laughed. “In the movies maybe, but not in real life. I hate to break it to you, but I wear flannel pants and a tank top to bed. And I have never had a pillow fight.”

He looked stricken. “Are you sure? Maybe it’s just you?”

“Sorry, I don’t know any girl who has.”

He pouted, looking down into his can of Seven Up; the expression on his face resembled a child that had just been told there’s no Santa. The conversation was a little noisy then, Derrick and Cory started giving Pete a hard time.

There was a loud clatter behind us. We turned in the direction of the noise.

There was Logan and his friends laughing at Bobby Thornton, who was holding a tray of food, half on, half off his tray. “Looks like Logan strikes again. Isn’t it hilarious to knock someone’s food on the floor?” Cory asked dryly.

“What a douche bag,” Emma said from beside me. “Oh look Sarah,” she pointed at Lucas who was walking toward Bobby from his table to help him pick up his food. She leaned over to whisper in my ear, “isn’t that sweet.”

I nodded but didn’t say anything. The truth was, the more I saw of Lucas, the more I realized I was wrong about him. It made me feel things that I didn’t want to feel. Of course, the dreams didn’t help either. But I was learning that Lucas was a good guy.

In history class, Lucas stopped at my desk on the way to his. “So how was work Saturday?” He leaned against Wally Marten’s desk, who sat across from me.

“Fine, how was the rest of your shift?”

He chuckled. “You mean after I embarrassed myself in front of Vice Principal Samson? It was okay.”

I laughed at him.

“Oh great, now you’re laughing at me.”

“You’re right, I am.” I picked up my pen and twirled it around on my book; feeling the need to do something with my hands.

Mr. Henderson came in and told everyone to take our seats. Lucas smiled and went to his desk just before Wally sat down.

I peeked at Emma, who sat on the other side, and was not surprised to see her grinning at me from ear to ear.

I had to work after school. It was slow on Mondays, so the clock ticked by at an extremely slow pace. I was ripping tickets today, so I was working alone.

At break time, I was in the small kitchen having a bottle of water and a hot dog. The room consisted of a sink, a microwave, a vending machine, and an old fridge. I was sitting at one of the two tables in the room, it wasn’t exactly pretty, but it did the job. There was a chair I could sit on and rest my feet, and that was all that mattered.

Marcy Becker walked in just as I was taking a bite of my hot dog; juice from the wiener fell onto my pants. I rubbed the spot with a Kleenex thankful that the pants were black.

“Hey Sarah, have you worked with the new guy?” Marcy asked as she plugged change into the vending machine, and chose an Iced Tea. She was a grade lower than me, but we went to the same school. She was tall though, so you couldn’t really tell she was younger. Her long black hair, milky skin and gray eyes, attracted a few boys from our school; they would hang around the theater while she worked. She’d been here about six months.

I swallowed the bite of hot dog that I was chewing, and answered, “You mean Zack, yeah last week on sales.”

She sat down beside me and opened her drink, tossing the lid onto the table. “I worked with him the night he started, he seems nice enough.” She glanced around to make sure we were alone. “Did you know him before he started here?”

“No, why?”

She looked uncomfortable with what she was about to say. “Well the first night he worked with Susan, she was training him.” Susan was our assistant manager. “She introduced us, and told him what school I went to, and that a few of us went there. When she mentioned your name, he looked like he recognized it.”

I didn’t know what she was getting at. “So,” I encouraged her, she seemed reluctant to continue.

Again she looked around the room and tapped the tabletop with her fingers nervously. “Well, we had a break together that night, and he was asking questions about you, I thought it was a little weird, since you hadn’t met yet.”

I had to admit it was a bit strange. “What kind of questions did he ask?”

“Oh, just what grade you were in, how old you were, and this is a bit odd since he’s never met you but… he asked if you were seeing anyone.” She gave me a guilty look and added. “I said no, is that okay? I didn’t know what to say.”

I gave her a small smile. “No it’s fine, what were you supposed to say, but it is kind of strange.”

“I know, right? After that, he seemed okay, I worked with him on the weekend, and he was fine, actually fun to work with.”

I was a little stunned, and didn’t know what to say next. Marcy looked at her watch. “Crap. I’ve kept you in here talking so long, I think your break is up.”

I glanced at the clock. “Yep, I’ll see you later.” Hurrying out the door, I went back to work.

The rest of the night went by faster, since I was in kind of a daze. Why would Zack ask those questions before he even met me? I could see if I was the only name mentioned, but Marcy said Susan had named all the kids that went to Hamilton High from here. She also said he acted like he recognized my name, although we never met until last week.

It became very busy, so I pushed the new guy to the back of my mind and focused on work.

When my shift finally ended, I headed out to my car where I parked it, in the lot, beside the building. As I was walking through the quiet lot, I heard a noise. It sounded like a bottle being kicked. I turned around to see if anyone was there, but all I saw were abandoned cars. Awareness crept over me, and all the hairs on my neck stood on end. I stood still, holding my breath for a couple of seconds, listening. The only sounds I heard were the distant cry from a cat, and cars whizzing by on the highway. “Hello, is anybody there?” I called quietly. No one answered. I took a few deep breaths to try and calm myself.

When that didn’t work, I ran the rest of the way to my car. I started the engine and took off, going faster than I needed to. Man I was freaked. I just wanted to get home. I couldn’t shake the feeling I had when I was in the parking lot, the feeling of being watched.

I pulled in my driveway still a little anxious, so this time I didn’t hesitate, I just ran to the house, and though the door.

“Hey honey, how was work?” my dad asked me from behind. I was standing with my hand on the door handle.

I turned around. “Um, kind of slow, I’m tired though, goodnight.” I started to walk past him, but he held his arm out to block my path.

“What’s wrong, you look upset?”

“Nothing’s wrong, I just had a long night.” When he didn’t look convinced I added, “I swear.”

“Okay, but if you need to talk, let me know.”

“Dad!” Alex called from the living room. “Are you bringing the chips or not?”

Dad looked at me with a guilty expression. “We’re having a guitar hero competition, want to join? It’s been awhile since I whipped your butt at the game.”

I smiled, cheered a little by my father’s childish hobbies. “No thanks, I really am tired, I’m going to bed.” I turned, walking toward the stairs, and then stopped. “Oh, where’s mom?”

“She’s at a staff meeting at school, she’ll be late.”

“Okay, tell her that I said goodnight.”

I turned back and headed up to my room, where I changed into a tank top and pj pants, and then climbed into bed, to restless to do anything else. Of course I couldn’t fall asleep though, simply tossing and turning until I eventually drifted off.

I opened my eyes, and looked around. I stood in the back yard with Lucas again. We were in the moonlight, dancing as usual, but this time I heard something, the squeak of the gate opening. I looked over his shoulder and saw someone running towards him with a butcher knife in his hand. “NOOOO!” I screamed, just as the hooded man thrust the knife into Lucas’ back. It was too late save him; Lucas lay in my arms, staring up at me with dead eyes.

Ch.7 Panic

I woke up screaming, to the feeling of someone rubbing my back. “It’s okay Sarah, it’s only a dream.” It was my mother, speaking to me in gentle tones. She held me until I calmed down. Her warm embrace use to soothe me when I was a child, but this wasn’t a scraped knee or a failed grade. Honestly I wasn’t sure what was going on. I just knew she couldn’t help me.

When the tremors that had overtaken me subsided, I pulled away. “I’m okay, Mom.”

Her narrowed eyes and raised eyebrow told me that she didn’t believe me. “Are you sure? I could hear you screaming from the kitchen, I just got home. What were you dreaming about?”

The idea of repeating the horrible nightmare made my chest ache. However, saying the words out loud might diminish the fear that was creeping inside, and that was the only reason I took a deep breath, and began my tale. “It was weird, I was dreaming of a guy from school who I hardly know. He’s been in my mind most nights for the last few weeks, and I don’t know why. Tonight it was the same one I’ve had before, but this time he was killed and died in my arms. It felt so real.” I was wrong, saying the words didn’t help; my heart sped up as I pictured Lucas’ dead eyes and pale white face.

My mom looked sympathetic. “Oh honey that’s awful, but you know it was just a dream, right?” She touched my cheek lovingly, and again her soft touch did nothing to ease my mind. “Who was it?”

I pulled away from her. “I’d rather not say. What time is it anyway?”

“Midnight. You have the rest of the night to have happy dreams.” She smiled obviously trying to cheer me up. I returned the smile, so she’d think she had helped. I didn’t feel any better, but she didn’t have to know that. “Thanks mom. I’m okay now.”

“I’m glad honey. Goodnight.” She kissed my cheek and turned out the light as she closed the door behind her.

Still feeling a little anxious I picked up my book, and read for a while.

My sudden exhaustion overpowered my uneasiness. I put the book away and lay down, hoping I could get back to sleep. Closing my eyes, I hoped for blackness. Instead, I saw Lucas’ lifeless eyes staring at me. I tried to think of something cheery to help get rid of the vision in my mind, but nothing worked. I sighed heavily, turned over and stared at my CD collection, silently counting the titles.

I must have finally fallen asleep eventually, because the next thing I knew, my mom was knocking on the door telling me to get up for school.

I sat up in bed, my god, did I feel like crap. I didn’t know what time it was when I finally fell asleep, but the last time I remember looking at the clock, it was three a.m. So needless to say, I was tired, and I felt troubled about the dream.

I stood in the shower with the hot water pouring over me. The water splashing on my face woke me up a bit, but I felt weak from lack of sleep.

When I finished washing my body, I climbed out of the shower.

I wiped the steam from the mirror with my hand and stared at my reflection. The face in the glass looked hollow and pale with dark circles under the eyes. I didn’t recognize this girl; it would take more than make up to fix my face this morning. All I wanted to do was to climb back under my soft, welcoming blankets.

I stopped myself before I gave in to the urge. Brushing and drying my hair was a challenge for my weak arms. I finished getting dressed; hardly noticing what clothes I chose, or if they even matched and only applied the bare minimum of makeup before heading downstairs.

“Sarah you better hurry up, I’m leaving, and you’re going to-” my mom stopped mid sentence when she saw me. She was wearing a black skirt and matching jacket, her hair was pulled back in a twist. She tucked a loose hair behind her ear, as she assessed my appearance. “You look awful honey, are you sick?”

I felt awful. “No just tired.”

She didn’t look convinced. “If you want to stay home, you can.”

My stomach dropped. “No!” I yelled. Fear clawed at my chest at the thought of staying home. She backed up, surprised as much as I was at my reaction. “I… mean no, have to go to school, I…I’m okay,” I stammered, wondering why I had acted so frightened at the idea of staying home.

She glanced at her watch. “I have to go, or I’ll be late. If you change your mind about staying home, let me know. Alex left with a friend already. I’ll see you later.” She said all that, as she was running for her car. I really didn’t feel like going to school, but, for some reason I needed to be there.

Walking to my car twenty minutes later, I noticed the weather reflected how I felt. It was overcast and chilly. There was no rain, but a wet mist hovered in the air, so much for a sunny day to help cheer me up. I hugged myself, pushing my leather coat closer to keep the chill away.

When I arrived at school, the anxious feeling I woke up with, still lingered. I climbed out of my car walking slowly into the building and then to my locker, all the while scanning the crowded halls for a familiar head of brown shaggy hair.

In music class the whole group practiced Miss Fitzgerald’s original piece. I made a few mistakes, which was frustrating because only yesterday I had it down perfectly. When class was dismissed, Miss Fitzgerald called me to her desk, as the rest of the kids filed out to go to lunch.

I stood silently in front of her, waiting for her to speak as she stuffed papers into a drawer. She finally closed it, and glanced up at me. “Are you feeling okay, Sarah? You look a little pale.”

“I’m tired, that’s all. I’ll do better tomorrow,” I said apologetically.

She scoffed. “Don’t be ridiculous. I know you can do it; I’m just concerned for you. Why don’t you go home if you’re not feeling well?”

I panicked. “I’m fine, the day’s already half over, I’ll be okay. Is that all?” I was hoping to leave before she insisted I go home. For some reason, the thought of leaving filled me with dread.

“Okay, but if you change your mind, don’t worry about your school work, just go. You can catch up later.”

“Thanks Miss Fitzgerald. See you tomorrow.” I rushed out of the classroom before she could change her mind. It wasn’t my schoolwork keeping me here; it was something else. I just didn’t know what that was.

At lunch, my friends kept telling me how bad I looked and that I should go home. I was getting tried of hearing it.

In history class, I looked over to where Lucas sat, but his chair was empty. Alarm bells went off inside my head. Where was he? Mr. Henderson came in and started his lesson. I glanced at Emma and whispered, “Where’s Lucas?”

“I heard he was sick, why do you want to know?” she smirked. I wasn’t in the mood for teasing.

“Just curious,” I said, looking straight ahead at the chalkboard.

At home, after school, I felt restless. And nothing seemed to soothe me. Doing homework or reading didn’t interest me. I thought music would help, but when I put my new C.D on, it just made me feel jumpy. There was only one thing that usually helps soothe my nerves, when I felt this way. So I headed to the basement rec. room. If it didn’t work, nothing could.

I sat down on the stool and placed my hands on the piano keys, they were cold and bumpy against my palm when I swept my hand over them. A loud tinkle of notes erupted in the small room. I closed my eyes to listen. There was nothing I enjoyed more than the sound of a piano in perfect tune.

I played my favorite song, trying to loose myself in the music. Next I played the new piece for music class. When screwed up on the ending, I decided today wasn’t the day to practice. I was too preoccupied with playing the dream over and over in my head, and since the song was new to me, playing it on instinct proved difficult. I couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling, so I gave up trying.

Back in my room, I laid on my bed, staring up at the dirt splotch looking for answers. I wished I had Lucas’ phone number. I needed to know that he was okay. That was my problem all day, after my dream last night I had to see him. That’s why I needed to go to school, and why I was anxious all morning, waiting to see him at lunch. When he wasn’t there, I thought for sure he would be in history class. After he didn’t show up, I felt panicked.

Should I call him? Yeah right, what was I supposed to say? I only had a couple of conversations with the guy, and I didn’t think we were at the calling stage. What would I even say? “Oh Lucas I’m just calling to make sure you’re not dead. See you at school.” Yeah right, I’m not crazy. Or I could go with, “I’ve been dreaming of you and in the last one I had, you died in my arms. It freaked me out, so I just wanted to make sure you were okay.” Yeah sign me up for a straight jacket. I just needed sleep, I thought, then I’d calm down. I closed my eyes and waited to fall under. It didn’t work. Instead, Lucas’ vacant eyes looked back at me.

I lay there until my mom called me for supper.

Sitting in my chair at the table, I picked at my food. I didn’t have much of an appetite, but I ate the macaroni casserole my mom made, not really tasting it, while the conversation went on around me.

“You’re quiet Sarah. Is there something wrong?” my dad asked between bites.

“Yeah I’m tired, and I don’t really feel like talking.” I gulped the last bite and shoved away from the table. “I’m finished eating, I’m gonna go back to my room if that’s alright?”

My mom and dad exchanged questioning glances, and then my mom answered, “Sure honey.”

I was putting my dishes in the dishwasher when the phone rang.

“Sarah could you get that?” my mom shouted from the dining room.

“Sure,” I said, grabbing the phone off of the end table. “Hello.”

“Is Sarah home?” a deep voice asked.

“This is Sarah.”

“Oh hi, it’s Lucas. Is it okay that I’m calling?”

Relief washed over me. “Yeah sure.” I headed upstairs to my room, taking the phone with me. Behind me, I could hear my mom and dad arguing with Alex about something. I really didn’t care. I had my own problems.

I fell onto my bed, my weight made the pillows bounce. “What’s up?”

“I was sick today, and I don’t want to get behind in class, so I was wondering if I could borrow your notes. You’re the only one I’ve spoken to in history. If you don’t want to lend them to me, I could ask the Mr. Henderson.”

I smiled to myself, that’s what happens when you only talk to a few people in school. You might feel a little weird asking someone you don’t know for a favor. “Sure no problem, there wasn’t much today anyway. If you want, I could give them to you at lunch, it shouldn’t take you long to copy them.”

“Sounds good, if you could bring them to the cafeteria, I’ll pick them up and copy them while I eat.”

“Okay. So you’re feeling better then?” I asked, playing with the zipper from the hoodie I was wearing.

“Yeah, I think it was a twenty four hour thing. It started yesterday at work, and I had to go home. I guess my manager didn’t like the idea of my throwing up on the customers.”

“Well, it’s not very good customer service.”

He laughed. “When do you work next?”

It sounded like he was trying to make conversation. “I work Wednesday and Saturday, same shift as last week, you?”

“I have to work Thursday night and Saturday until five. I hate working Saturday nights, so I always work the day shift. I’m in good with the owners, so it works out.”

“Who owns it?”

“My parents.”

“Oh, I feel stupid. You know I didn’t even notice the name when my mom took me there last week.” I really hoped it was a coincidence that we ended up at Lucas’ parent’s restaurant.

“ Sabour. Its my mom’s maiden name.”

“That’s a cool name. I should probably get off the phone though. I still have to do my homework, unlike some people.”

“Yeah, I’ll just have to do double tomorrow. I’ll see you at school. Have a good night Sarah.”

“You too Lucas.” I hung up in a much better mood, I’m sure it was just because I was relieved that he was okay. And I was fooling myself.

It took me the rest of the night to finish my homework and afterward I went to bed early. Because of my restless night I could barely keep my eyes open.

As I shut the door to my car the next morning in the school parking lot, Emma came up beside me. “You look much better today.”

I smiled. “I feel much better too. I was just tired and cranky; I didn’t sleep well the night before.” We came up to the front doors, and walked right through; Jeff Lewis held it open, winking at Emma.

We were almost to my locker when I noticed Derrick wasn’t tagging along behind us. “Where’s Derrick?” I asked, surprised he wasn’t with Emma. They’d been joined at the hip since their first date.

“He’s sick, some kind of flu, he was throwing up all last night. It was so gross.” She scrunched up her face and made a gagging sound. Apparently it was contagious, first Lucas and now Derrick.

“Eww. I hope he’s okay.”

“He’ll be fine; I heard it was a bug going around.” She didn’t seem too concerned.

“I’ll see you at lunch, Emma,” I said, heading to my first class. It was very quiet without Derrick there, but since we had a movie, he didn’t miss much.

At lunch, I sat at our usual table in the cafeteria, reading and waiting for Emma. She was late, which was weird since she was always the first one here. “Are you hiding from someone?” asked a deep voice, I could smell some kind of sweet, spicy scent.

I was hunched in my chair with my book leaning up on the table, my head leaning over it. “I’m reading, ever heard of it?” I smiled, looking up into the deep hazel eyes of one of the two best-looking guys in school.

“Nope never.” Lucas sat down beside me and placed his lunch and history book on the table in front of him. We smiled at each other remembering one of our first conversations. Why did I feel so comfortable with him?

“Where’s Emma?”

I was about to answer him when Andy sat on the chair across from mine. “Hey, are we eating here today?” he asked looking at Lucas.

“Are we?” Lucas glanced at me.

“You might as well; you won’t have to bring me my book back when you’re finished with it.” I bent down to pull my notebook out of my bag and handed it to him.

Andy grinned at us, his green eyes lit up with humor. “Cool.” He took his lunch out of his backpack and placed it on the table.

My cell phone rang. I reached in my bag to answer it. “Hello?”

“Sarah, I’m so sorry I left without telling you. But I almost heaved on my desk in math class,” Emma said roughly.

“You left?”

“Yes, I just got home. Are you going to be okay by yourself, who’s that?” She must have heard Lucas and Andy yelling to Kyle. He was standing in front of their usual table, holding a tray of food, looking a bit lost.

“Um…Lucas and Andy.” I heard a squeal.

“Oh, I shouldn’t have done that, I gotta go. Bye.” She hung up. I didn’t want to know what she was doing.

“Hey, why are we sitting here?” Kyle asked when he sat down beside Andy, who was grinning wickedly, looking back and forth between Lucas and me.

“Lucas is borrowing Sarah’s history notes, right Luke?” Andy answered, wiggling his eye brows, pale blond hair fell into his eyes.

“Yes, and I want to copy them before class starts so shut up.” Lucas leaned over his book, scribbling quickly.

Kyle started talking to Andy about a project they had together in Geography, so I took a bite of my sandwich.

“Where are Emma and Derrick?” Andy asked.

I swallowed, and then replied, “Derrick has the flu so he’s sick today and Emma just went home with the same thing.”

“If it’s the same thing I had, they should be fine by tomorrow,” Lucas said, in between bites of his sandwich.

Andy was grinning at us again. “So Sarah, you should come out with us Saturday night, we’re going to a party my cousin’s having. Shouldn’t she, Luke?” He finished off his sandwich by stuffing the rest of it in his mouth.

Lucas stared at Andy coldly. “I don’t think Sarah would be into it, your cousins parties can get kind of wild.”

Lucas’ reaction surprised me, he hardly knew me, and yet he seemed to be watching out for me. “I have to work Saturday night anyway.” They didn’t need to know that I was off at seven.

“Maybe next time,” Andy mumbled with his mouth still full of food. He swallowed and turned to Kyle again, while Lucas copied my notes.

I picked up my book and began to read.

“Okay, you two are boring. Lunch is almost over; Andy do you want to go see what Laurie and Amanda are up to.” Kyle asked Andy, running his hand through his thick brown hair.

“Sure, see you later guys.” Andy stood up and started walking toward Laurie and Amanda’s table, over by the window.

A few minutes later, Lucas lifted his head. “Done.” He shoved his book and lunch into his bag then turned to me. His intense gaze held mine for several seconds. I couldn’t look away even if I wanted to. “I’m glad you bumped into me Sarah,” he said softly, leaning in closer. He lifted his hand as if to touch my face, he hesitated and instead placed it on mine, giving it a gentle squeeze. I felt an electric pulse at his touch. “See you in class,” he whispered. His face so close to mine, I could feel his breath. He stood up and walked out of the cafeteria.

I was frozen in my seat. Because of his soft touch and the look in his eyes, I thought for a moment, I’d lost the ability to move or speak. No other guy has ever had the same effect on me. Sure I’ve had others flirt with me. I’ve even been kissed by a few on dates. But that one touch and soft words from Lucas and I was gone. There was no turning back.

Ch.8 Distractions

At home, hours later, I decided to make dinner to take my mind off a certain twin. Since my mom had left out chicken, I thought I’d make her favorite, fettuccine Alfredo. She liked to add chicken to it, and it was the only way I knew how to make it.

I placed the chicken in the hot pan, it sizzled and popped. While it cooked, I got out the rest of the ingredients and busied myself making the best meal I could.

I was almost finished when I heard a voice. “You're making dinner?” I turned to see my mom standing in the kitchen doorway, face flushed, hair messy, as she stared at me in disbelief.

“Is it still windy?” I asked, lifting the cooked chicken pieces out of the pan with a fork.

She brushed her long bangs out of her face with a smile. “Yes, it’s like a tornado out there. Why are you cooking?” She stripped off her black suede coat and set it and her brief case on a chair.

I smiled at her reaction. It hadn’t been that long since I cooked, had it? “I felt like it. I needed to take my mind off some things.”

I moved over to the pot of Alf redo sauce, giving it a quick stir, and then checked on the pasta that was boiling on the back burner. Steam curled up into the air; I stirred it to avoid the noodles sticking together. The last time I attempted to make pasta, I forgot to stir the noodles, and when I finally remembered, they were all in a big clump. We ordered pizza that night. Maybe that was the reason my mother was so surprised.

“Thank you; I’ve had a long day. So you picked the perfect time to help out. If you don’t mind, I have a few papers to see to. I’ll come back and help you when I’m done.”

“Mom, I can handle it by myself.” I started cutting the chicken into chunks.

She grinned, kissed me on the forehead and rushed upstairs. “Don’t forget to stir the noodles.” I heard her yell. Funny, very funny.

The smell of garlic floated out of the oven, reminding me that the garlic bread I had put in earlier was almost finished. I opened the door and peered inside. The bread was golden brown. Perfect. I took the pan out before it burned and placed them on a plate.

I had just finished the rest of the dinner, and was setting the table, when I heard the front door open and close.

"Mmm, dinner smells great. Did you make it yourself?" my dad asked from the doorway, looking as surprised as my mom was. Maybe I should start to help out more often, if I shocked them this much.

He walked over and dipped his finger in the sauce that was simmering on top of the stove. “Oh, that’s good.”

“Dad that’s gross there’s a spoon right there.” I pointed to the counter beside the stove. “Will you call Alex and mom, they're both upstairs.”

“Sure I’ll be right back. I can’t wait to eat, that sauce tasted delicious.” He hurried up the stairs.

I had to admit it did smell good. While I mixed the sauce, chicken, and noodles into one large bowl, I heard my family settling down at the table.

“That look’s good honey,” my mother said, when I placed the bowl in the center of the table. I watched them scoop out their dinner before I took my turn.

We were quiet while we ate; the only sounds were the scrapes of silverware and my dad’s yummy noises. “Wow, Sarah this is really good,” he dad said, breaking the silence.

“Thank you. Mom if you want I can cook once a week to help you out.”

She glanced up from her plate, surprised. “Are you sure, you already have work, school and piano, I don’t want to interfere with your homework.”

“I always do it when I get home anyway. I have time after that, and once a week isn’t a big deal.”

She beamed at me. “That would be wonderful, thank you.”

“So what’s with you and Lucas Tate? I saw you eating with him at lunch today,” Alex mumbled with his mouth full. My mom grinned, my dad looked worried.

“Nothing, he called last night and asked if he could use my history notes, so I lent them to him at lunch.” I looked down at my food, hoping that if I didn’t make eye contact they would forget about it.

“So why were you sitting so close and staring into each others eyes?” What the hell was wrong with Alex? Why wouldn’t he let it go? The kid always ignored me, and now he has a sudden interest in my love life. I narrowed my eyes at him, staring daggers in his direction, hoping he’d take my hint and shut up.

He only leaned back in his chair and gave me a lazy smile.

“What’s going on Sarah? If things are getting serious with this boy, I want to meet him.” My father had gone white as he dropped his fork down on his plate with a clang.

“Oh stop it, there is nothing going on. If there were, I wouldn’t be discussing it with all of you.” I spun on my brother. “And Alex, what are you doing watching me at lunch. Mind your own business.” I was yelling, I didn’t know why, but anytime Alex looked at me that way, it made me feel like we were kids again and the urge for an argument was to strong too fight.

“You seem a little defensive honey,” my mom pointed out, absently running her finger along her water glass.

“Well I feel like everyone is ganging up on me, what’s with all the questions?” I admit I was whining and overreacting, but I didn’t care. “I’m finished eating, I’m going to do my homework.” I shoved back in my chair; the wooden legs rubbed against the hardwood floor making my mom cringe, and stomped into the kitchen. After I put my dishes in the dishwasher, I went upstairs.

I was almost finished my homework when my mom knocked on my door, and asked if she could come in.

“Sure, come on in. It’s your house, I can’t stop you.”

She stepped in and shut the door behind her. After walking over; she sat beside me on the bed. “So what’s wrong? You’re rarely grouchy and whiny all in one night.” She put her hand on my leg and slapped it lightly.

I considered confiding in her about what was really bothering me, and I opened my mouth to start, but the words wouldn’t come. So I didn’t say anything, just stared out the window ignoring her, watching the wind blow the pine tree outside my window. A branch scraped the glass with a screech.

She stretched out beside me, the familiar smell of ginger floated in the air. It had been my mother’s favorite perfume since I was a kid. Now, when I smelled it, I always knew she was close by. “I’ve got all night; you’ll feel better after you talk to someone. If you would rather, I could send up your dad.” She gazed up at the ceiling and spoke absently.

I cringed; not in the least bit interested in discussing boys with my dad.

She snorted. “I didn’t think so.”

I lay down beside her, stubbornly remaining silent. After about ten minutes of strained quiet, I started to doubt my decision.

My mother could also be stubborn, and she was telling the truth when she said she’d wait all night. So unless I wanted a bed mate, I needed to tell her something, just to get rid of her. I opened my mouth to lie, but instead, the whole truth came pouring out. I told her about the first dream, and then about the first few awkward conversations with Lucas, and all of them since.

I took a deep breath and began again, lowering my voice to a whisper. “And when I talk to him, I feel like I’ve known him all my life.” I raised my voice again. “Oh and of course there are the dreams; after I saw him without his glasses, I realized it was him and not Logan. I’m having romantic dreams about us, and I don’t know why, and once I saw him dead. Oh, you know that part, you just didn’t know it was him,” I stopped and took another deep breath before whispering, “today, when we sat together at lunch. He talked to me so softly and touched my hand. He left me speechless.”

“Wow,” my mom said, looking as dazed as I felt. “I think you were holding things in for too long. I also think, you have real feelings for him, and you’re scared.” We lay quietly deep in thought.

“I do like him; I wouldn’t even admit it to myself. He is so different than I imagined. I still don’t know him all that well, but I feel like I do.”

My mom was quiet for a moment. “I knew there was something between the two of you, I could feel it. Even, if you didn’t know it yourselves. But I think Lucas knew even then, when we had lunch at his parent’s restaurant. You should have seen the way he looked at you.” I raised my eyebrows as in disbelief. “I’m serious. I know this is new to you, but I’m pretty sure it’s not for him.”

I was completely shocked. I sat up and stared down at her. “Mother, he has never even spoken to me, and he wouldn’t have if I hadn’t bumped into him.”

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I am good with reading people. Don’t stress about it, okay? Just enjoy it, first love is amazing, and I’m excited for you. And I will need updates when it progresses, and I say when because I know it will.” She stood up. “You should let your dad meet him, he’s usually a push over, but I think that’s because you’ve never been serious about anybody before. I know it’s too soon to talk like this, but keep it in mind Okay.” She leaned toward me and kissed the top of my head. “I hope getting it out helped. I’ll see you in the morning.” She smiled at me as she closed the door behind her.

After finishing my homework, I went to bed and… dreamt of Lucas. We were lying on a hill talking, when I turned my head, he leaned into kiss me. The dream was so real I could feel his breath on my skin, the tingle on my lips after he pulled away.

I woke up in a very good mood. I had to work after school, so I stuffed my work clothes in my backpack, and hopped in the shower.

I chose my outfit carefully, a silver, tight fitting short sleeve silk blouse and my dark blue skinny jeans. I straightened my hair, which I didn’t normally do, usually just brushed it and hoped it didn’t look too frizzy. I wore makeup as well instead of my usual lip-gloss and eyeliner. When I was satisfied with my reflection in the mirror, I headed downstairs to grab a quick breakfast.

The kitchen smelled of coffee and burnt toast.

“Wow, you look nice Sarah,” my mom said when I walked into the room. “Is there a special occasion?”

“No, I just woke up earlier, so I had more time to get ready.” I popped a grape from the fruit bowl, into my mouth.

She didn’t believe my explanation. “Sure,” she said with a smirk.

“Who are you trying to impress?” Alex appeared in the doorway.

“You, little brother. Do you need a ride to school, or are you going with mom?”

He looked surprised. “I’d rather not go with mom, she gets there too early. But you hate driving me to school.”

I looked at him innocently. “I don’t mind.” Opening the cupboard door, I took out my favorite cereal and poured some in a bowl.

“Thanks,” he said, looking a little skeptical.

My mom smiled at me, and whispered, “You look happy, I hope our talk helped.” I only nodded since my mouth was full of sugar crunchies.

“Well, I’m going to work then. Thanks Sarah for taking your brother,” she called as she walked out the door.

“What’s with you?” Alex asked me after mom had left.

“Nothing.” I shrugged my shoulders and took another bite of cereal. “I’m just in a good mood.”

“You’ll have to get a ride home with mom, I have to work,” I told him, once we were settled in my car, fifteen minutes later.

He was slouched down into the seat listening to his Ipod, “whatever” he mumbled.

We arrived at school, and this time I scored a space closer to the entrance. Alex took off before I had the car shut off. I guess he didn’t want to be seen with his older sister.

I stepped out of my car, and headed inside. Telling myself, I wasn’t scanning the lot for Lucas, but when I saw his black mustang, I knew I was kidding myself.

Derrick was waiting for me at my locker. “Well hello there, hottie. Who are you dressed up for?”

I glared at him as I turned my combination. This was getting annoying. “Nobody, I just woke up earlier, so I had more time to get ready,” I said for the third time as I opened my locker door and shoved my bag into it. Did I usually look that bad?

He wasn’t convinced. “Well here comes Lucas and his eyes are about to pop out of his head.”

I turned to see Lucas walking toward us. “Hey Derrick, Sarah. Is Emma still sick?”

I was quite happy to see that he couldn’t take his eyes off me. Derrick answered for me. “Yeah, but she’ll probably feel better tomorrow. Sarah said you had the flu on Monday. It sucked didn’t it?”

“That’s for sure,” Lucas said, barely moving his eyes away from my face. “It must be going around. I hope you don’t get it too Sarah?”

“I don’t get sick often, I think I’m safe.” I shut my locker door and leaned against it.

Derrick spoke, his head bobbing from Lucas to me. “Well I guess I’ll go to class. I’ll see you there,” he said, nodding at me with a huge grin.

After he walked away, Lucas turned to me. “If it’s just you and Derrick today, maybe Andy, Kyle and I will sit with you at lunch again?”

My face heated slightly. “Sure.”

He smiled at me as the bell rang. “I guess I’ll see you later.” He leaned in, his face just inches from mine. “You look amazing.” he whispered, then walked away.

I felt a little queasy as I ran to English class.

I slid into my seat while Derrick grinned at me. “Now I know why you’re all dressed up.”

“Shut up,” I said dryly, without turning around. I heard him chuckle behind me.

In music class, I was daydreaming about Lucas when Miss Fitzgerald called us to order.

“Okay class, I know you have been working really hard on my original piece for the upcoming recital, but I have thought of a way to make the night more exciting. I want each of you to compose a short original piece of your own.”

There were a lot of moans among my classmates. I thought it was a good idea and couldn’t wait to get started.

“Don’t worry, if you need help just let me know. I want them to be about your emotions. I want to hear each one, and know what you were feeling when you wrote it.” She was leaning on her desk with her back to it. She pushed off and began to pace back and forth in front of the class. “We can show emotion through music, I want you to show me yours. It could be a happy song, angry, or sad, even fear, anything. But have fun with it. Okay, go to your instruments and start. If you need any help, let me know.”

I sat down on the piano bench, and tried to think of my emotions. I closed my eyes, and saw Lucas’ face and all I could think was happy. A tune came to my mind and I started tapping my fingers on the cold keys, trying a fast melody with a turn at the end. It actually sounded pretty good.

Ch.9 Hero

Lucas didn’t show up at lunch, he didn’t even come into the cafeteria. Even though Derrick’s friends Pete and Cory sat with us, the table felt empty.

Since Lucas was late for History, I couldn’t even ask why he didn’t show, and when class was dismissed he rushed out.

I didn’t see him for the rest of the day. I looked for his mustang after school, it was no where to be seen. I climbed in my car and sat quietly. Willing myself to turn the key in the ignition, but I couldn’t, there was a tightness in my chest and my eyes burned with the threat of tears. Maybe he wasn’t interested after all. Was I just imagining his attention? He really seemed like he wanted to spend time with me, what kind of game was he playing?

Eventually I started the car and drove off, angry at him, as much as myself.

At work, I felt a little sick. I was on ticket sales with Zack. At first I felt weird because of what Marcy told me about him. But soon it became easy to have a conversation; he was actually fun to work with.

I had an hour left of my shift, when my stomach started to churn. “Oh god,” I said clutching at my stomach.

“Are you okay?” Zack asked.

“No, I think I’m gonna throw up.” I stumbled out of the booth and ran for the washroom, barley making it before I heaved inside the toilet. Great, I had the flu, and I felt like crap.

I left the bathroom and told the manager I had to leave. He said it was fine; it was a slow night anyway.

I spent the rest of the night between my bed and the bathroom.

The next morning I could barley lift my head from the pillow? There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” I whispered.

“Still feel sick? Should I stay home?” my mom asked as she stepped up to the bed.

“No I’ll be fine, it’s not like there’s anything you can do. If it’s what all of my friends had, then I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

“Okay. I brought you some gingerale, and I’ll call you when I can, to see how you’re doing.” She sat my drink on the nightstand.

After she left, I fell back to sleep. I must have been delusional because I dreamt of Lucas again, well not a dream, just a series of faces. His, at different stages and another face, someone I’ve never met before. He was around my age with sandy colored hair, cut short and blue eyes. He would have been good looking if his face wasn’t distorted in rage. The rage seemed to be focused on Lucas. It was all flashes, and the dream had a dark feel to it. Nightmares must be part of my flu.

I woke up sometime during the day, to the phone ringing. I grabbed it from beside my bed. “Hello,” I whispered roughly.

“Did I wake you? I’m sorry, I called to see how you were feeling,” Emma said on the other end of the line.

“I haven’t barfed in a few hours, so that’s a start.”

“You’ll feel better by tonight. Can I ask you a question, or do you want to go back to sleep?”

“Shoot.”

“What’s up with you and Lucas? Derrick said you were all hot and heavy yesterday, and I know you had lunch the other day. And just a few minutes ago he asked how you were, and he wanted me to tell you that he hoped you felt better soon, so spill.”

“Ugh…I am really not in the mood for gossip Emma, but nothing. Yes there were some sparks yesterday morning, but it cooled when he blew me off the rest of the day. We made plans for lunch, and then he never showed.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea, but I’m not going to stress about it. If something happens it happens. But if it doesn’t, oh well. “

“He doesn’t deserve you,” she said to cheer me up.

I groaned. “I know. Now I’m hanging up, or I’m going to throw up.”

I tossed the phone onto my nightstand and climbed out of bed, walking slowly downstairs, my limbs ached with every movement. I poured myself some more gingerale then headed back to my room. I sunk back into bed, pulling the blankets up to my shoulders. I was surprised that just getting myself a drink had weakened me. I fell asleep, and stayed that way the rest of the day.

My mom came in with juice after she came home from work. “How are you feeling honey?”

“I think the worst is over, I haven’t gotten sick since this afternoon.” I sat up to drink the juice. “I think I’ll come down and watch T.V, I’m a little bored.”

She smiled at me. “Sure, come on down and I’ll make you some toast and tea.”

I lay on the couch downstairs, ate my toast and drank my tea. It helped to settle my stomach. It was nice to sit with my family. I had been cooped up in my room for a day and a half; I needed a change of scenery.

I was feeling better by that night. I had a shower before I went to bed, then lay down for a restful, dreamless sleep.

I woke early, feeling normal again. I chose my short dark blue dress, and added black tights since it was a getting colder out. I loved this dress. It was one of the outfits I bought on my shopping trip with my mom. Emma had returned it the day after she borrowed it.

I curled my hair for a different look and applied my makeup. And for the finishing touch, I sprayed some of my new perfume. When I posed in front of the mirror, I had to admit, I looked good. If Lucas wanted to stare at me like he did the other day, he could. If he wanted to ignore me again, no way, this time I would be the one to blow him off.

I parked in the lot at school and climbed out of my car. I was leaning in the backseat getting my backpack when I heard a deep voice behind me. “Feeling better?”

I spun around to see Lucas standing in front of me. “Yep,” I said coldly, slamming my door, and pushing past him, walking as fast as I could.

“You’re mad about the other day aren’t you?” He was walking fast trying to keep up.

“No, why would I be mad?” I kept my gaze straight ahead, afraid that if I saw his handsome face, I’d let go of my anger, and I couldn’t do that, yet. He had to suffer a little more.

“You seem angry.” He was walking beside me now.

I glanced at him, hoping I seemed indifferent. “Nope.”

He wasn’t convinced. “Well about the other day, not showing up for lunch. I lost track of time playing basketball with the guys. I’m sorry.”

There was something not right about his story, he didn’t even mention not speaking to me the rest of the day. “Oh right, we were supposed to meet the other day for lunch, weren’t we?” I stopped walking and stared at him, with a slight smile I added. “No biggie I forgot too.” We were in the school now. “If that’s all you wanted, I’ll see you later.” I walked away without giving him a chance to make up another excuse.

I glanced behind me to see if he had followed. He was still standing in the spot where I had left him, staring in my direction with a stunned look on his face.

It was so hard to walk away, especially since he looked so good today. Without his glasses, you could see the tiny flecks of gold in his hazel eyes. His hair appeared to be a little shorter, coming just below his ears; he was wearing a brown sweater and jeans. And his black motorcycle boots gave him a bad-boy edge you wouldn’t expect from Lucas Tate. It was necessary to keep my distance from him, I was just protecting myself. I didn’t want to feel like I did yesterday when I sat alone in the parking lot looking for his car, feeling rejected and confused.

At lunch, Emma was rambling on about her date with Derrick that evening. I sat beside her, half listening, half eating my sandwich. “Lucas is staring at you,” she leaned over and whispered in my ear.

I glanced at her, avoiding the direction she was looking. “So,” I said, taking another bite of my sandwich.

“Did something happen this morning? He looks sad.”

“He apologized for not meeting me for lunch because he was playing basketball with the guys.” I took a sip of water.

Her eyes narrowed. “That was his excuse? What a douche.”

“Yep, so I acted like I had forgotten that we were supposed to have lunch”

“Good for you.”

I didn’t feel like sitting there anymore in the crowded lunchroom, listening to the loud voices and laughter. “I’m going to my locker, I’ll see you later.” I put the rest of my lunch in my bag and stood up, waving to my friends as I walked away. I glanced at Lucas’ table, but he wasn’t there anymore. Kyle and Andy were tossing a rolled up paper bag back and forth across the lunch table.

I walked through the hallway, weaving around students heading to the cafeteria and was almost to my locker, when I heard a familiar voice. “Hey sweetie you’re looking good lately.”

I looked up, and saw Logan standing in the middle of the hall right in front of me. “Thanks,” I said, trying to get around him. He moved, blocking my path. I was cornered between him and a locker. “What do you want Logan?” I tried to make my voice hard, and was irritated that it shook slightly. The once busy hallway was suddenly empty. There were a few students at the far end, leaning against lockers, but none close enough to hear our conversation.

“You. I just wanted to ask you out for Saturday night.”

“No thanks.” I moved to the side to get around him, but again, he blocked me.

“Come on, I can show you a really good time,” he whispered in my ear. His cologne was strong, almost choking me. He was so close; I could feel the warmth of his body. I had the urge to lift my knee up sharply.

“I said no! Now back off.” My voice held a slight hysterical edge to it.

He scowled, angry now. His hazel eyes leered down at me. “You can’t turn me down. No one turns me down.”

I glared at him. “I just did.”

He backed up like I slapped him. I took my chance and tried to slip away again, but he grabbed my arm. “Come on now, I’m trying to be nice here. I just wanted to take you out, now you’re being rude.”

“I said I’m not interested,” I growled, yanking my arm out of his grip.

“No one turns me down,” he repeated, his voice low and harsh. He lifted his hand as if to hit me. I braced myself.

Footsteps pounded the linoleum floor behind me. Someone shoved Logan into the locker before he could strike. “Were you seriously going to hit her?” Lucas’ face was twisted with anger.

“Get off of me Luke, and mind your own business,” Logan snarled at his brother.

Lucas slammed him harder against the locker, his fingers dug into Logan’s shoulders. “Is this the way you get girls to go out with you? I always wondered how you did it, since you’re such a dick.” Logan pushed Lucas off him. “This is a new low for you, bullying girls into dating you. I’m sure Mom and Dad would be so proud.”

“I don’t have to bully girls, they come after me. When is the last time you had a date Luke?” Logan said to Lucas then turned to me. “I don’t know what I was thinking. You want her Luke? Take her, she’s all yours. She’s below my standards anyway.”

Unfazed by Logan’s hurtful words, I looked over at Lucas, who was shaking with anger. “Logan, if you ever go near Sarah again. I’ll take you down, and you know I can.” He chuckled darkly. “You never could beat me in a fight.” With that, he grabbed my arm, and dragged me through the line of kids that had gathered. In a High School, you could always count on an audience when a fight was brewing, although no one was around, just minutes before, when I needed help.

He kept walking silently pulling me along. I noticed we were headed to the parking lot. “Where are you taking me?” I asked, a little frightened.

He didn’t slow down or look at me. “We’re ditching the rest of the day,” he said still angry. I started to protest until he turned his head. The look on his face silenced me.

We were standing beside his car. “I can’t,” I said quietly.

His expression softened, and he whispered, “Please.”

“Fine.” I climbed into the passenger seat after he opened it.

He shut the door behind me, got in the driver’s side, and started the car.

Ch.10 The waterfall

We had been driving in silence for a while when he finally turned to me, his face looked miserable. “Are you okay?”

I nodded.

“I’m so sorry, my brother’s a jerk, but I didn’t think he was capable of this.”

“It’s okay; you got there just in time. Thank you by the way, I probably would have hit him back, so you saved him a black eye.” I was trying to lighten the mood, but my words were true, even though I was prepared for him to hit me, there was no way I would have let him get away with it.

He laughed. “I don’t doubt that at all, I’ve never heard a girl talk to him like that. I was impressed.”

I looked out the window, and saw that we were headed out of town. “Where are we going?”

“Just a place I like to go to think” he said, glancing at me. “I’ve never taken anyone there before.”

I gulped; suddenly nervous, I dug inside my purse to take took out my phone, unable to face him.

“Who are you calling?” His tone held an edge of panic.

“Emma, to tell her not to worry about me, and I’ll pick my car up later.”

He looked relieved. “Yeah I’ll take you back whenever you want.”

I texted Emma, since she was in class, telling her that I was taking the rest of the day off, and to tell my mom I would explain later. After about ten minutes, my phone buzzed. I opened the text and read silently. “Where are you? Are you with Lucas? Heard what happened.”

I laughed. “News travels fast.”

“What did she say?”

“She already heard what happened.”

“I’m not surprised, there were a few people at their lockers, but no one was helping you. I was at the end of the hall, I couldn’t hear what you were saying, but you didn’t look happy.”

“So, should I tell her that you kidnapped me?”

“Yeah,” he said, laughing. “Make sure she tells your mother the vice principal. Logan’s pretty stupid to pull that in front of witnesses. What if your mother finds out?”

I cringed at the thought, I didn’t want him to get into trouble; it would only make it worse.

“I’ll tell her not to get involved.”

“Why?” he demanded. “He should get what he deserves.”

“But won’t it look like I told my mommy on him? I’d rather just let it go.”

He grinned. “Or you could stay out of it; let things be, see what happens.”

“But since my mother is the vice principal, it will look like I told her, even if I didn’t.”

He thought about it. “I would love my parents to find out, and I can’t tell them.”

I didn’t know what to do. “I’ll wait and see if she say’s anything.” My phone beeped, I looked down, and read what Emma wrote out loud. “I heard that Lucas defended you and beat up Logan. Is this true?”

“Tell her that I gave him a black eye.”

“Okay. How about, you pulled him off me and threw him across the hall.” We both laughed. I glanced up and saw that we were now sitting in a driveway; I didn’t even realize we had stopped moving. When I was with him the world could go on without me, and I wouldn’t know it.

“Hey I’m a hero, I like it,” he said with a mischievous smile.

I sent Emma the message and then shoved my phone back into my bag. “So whose house is this?”

“Mine, but that’s not where we’re going.”

The house was a large red brick bungalow with an attached garage. A basketball net hung above of the garage door.

We got out of the car, and I followed him past his house into his back yard. On the edge of the yard, was a forest. He led me there and onto a path. The leaves had turned color, and were starting to fall. They made a crinkling sound as I stepped on them. “Are you taking me somewhere, where no one will find the body?” I asked as we moved further through the trees.

“I would never hurt you Sarah,” he said, his voice so heavy with emotion, my heart skipped a beat.

We walked a few more minutes until we came to a clearing.

I followed him up a small hill, where he stopped at the top. I stood beside him, and when I saw where we were, I gasped. We stood on the edge of a rock cliff, up about twenty feet. “Holy crap!” I said, backing away from the edge.

He laughed. “Don’t worry, you won’t fall.” He took his black leather jacket off and laid it on the cold ground. He sat on of the jacket with his feet dangling over the edge. Taking my hand, he pulled me down beside him. “Look,” he said, pushing my face forward.

Wow. Below where we sat, was a cascading waterfall with large boulders, and a variety of oak, maple and pine trees on either side. The leaves on the maple trees had changed color; they were a pretty red, orange and yellow. The rocks followed the edge of the stream of water as it flowed all the way down. The water crashed up against the side of the boulders, which caused the water to spray over the side. The scene was breathtaking.

“It’s beautiful,” I said softly, mesmerized by the view. I couldn’t look away. We sat silently on the edge of the small cliff, with our legs dangling. The only sounds were the roar of the water flowing down the rocks, and a couple of finches chirping in the tree branches above us. I felt like if we spoke, we would ruin the moment.

I turned my head to look at Lucas, he was staring at me, his face held a thoughtful expression. “I’m sorry about the other day. I know I hurt you, no matter how much you deny it.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” His words were filled with frustration.

“Um… what do you want me to say?”

He softened his tone. “The truth.”

I thought about it, and decided to go for it. “Yes, I was mad, and hurt that you didn’t show up. But I was more upset about your lame excuse. Playing basketball? I didn’t buy it, and it doesn’t explain why you didn’t talk to me for the rest of the day. It was your idea to have lunch with us anyway.”

His lips turned upwards into a half smile. “Now, there’s the Sarah I’ve been getting to know, the girl who would throw a book at me, when I was being rude, the girl who would tell my brother off, when he was being a jerk, twice.” I raised my eyebrows at him. “I was in the cafeteria when he cut in front of you.” He lay back on the grass and looked up at the sky. “I could tell you why I really didn’t show up, but I’m afraid it will freak you out.”

We sat for a while thinking to ourselves, he was lying on his back. I was sitting up watching the waterfall. “I’m afraid to ask. Is it that bad?” I ask wearily.

He sighed. “I wouldn’t say its bad, just embarrassing.”

“Tell me.” I held my breath waiting for his explanation.

He hesitated for a moment, and then started speaking so quietly I had to strain to hear him. “I had a dream of you the night we had lunch together. In it, you were killed. I saw your lifeless face, and it felt so real. I know you’re going to say it was just a dream, but it was as real as you, and I are sitting here right now. The dream was so intense that I felt that if I had stayed away from you. You would have lived.” He was quiet for a moment then slowly began again. “I rushed to school to make sure you were okay. On the way there though, I decided not to see you again, then nothing bad would happen to you.

I saw you in the hall, and I was so relieved that you were okay. But you looked so beautiful I couldn’t resist. In class when I was away from you, I could see your dead face every time I blinked. I had to try. I don’t know why, but I have this feeling that if we continue to see each other, something bad will happen to you.”

I was stunned; he was having the same dream I was. Why was this happening, and what did it mean? I opened my mouth to tell him that I shared his dream, but something stopped me. I suddenly felt the need to keep it to myself.

“Did I scare you away?” He sounded worried, so I turned to look at him.

“No, you didn’t scare me away. But are you saying you don’t want to see me?” And why did just the thought of that leave me feeling empty?

He took a few seconds to consider. “I should say yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. But I can’t, I’m drawn to you.” He smiled, and grabbed my arm to pull me down beside him.

Relieved by his words, I stared at the sky, watching birds fly overhead, and clouds morph into sheep, and one that looked oddly like the marshmallow man from Ghostbusters. I took a deep breath in and could smell the grass, dirt and the faint smell of pine from the trees near the waterfall.

I felt his fingers touch my face; I turned my head to look into his eyes. His fingers moving softly against my skin creating a spark that surprised, and excited me. He pulled my face towards him, and leaned up until he was just inches above me. “You sure you’re not scared?” he whispered.

“No, I’m not,” I meant my voice to be strong, convincing, but the words came out in a whisper. He grinned then leaned in touching his lips to mine. At first it felt wonderful, and familiar. Then he opened his mouth to deepened the kiss, and it became so much more.

When he finally drew away from me, I realized that I had never felt anything like that in my life. When he kissed me, I felt a buzz of awareness that told me, I had finally found the one thing, I didn’t know was missing

“Wow,” he whispered. “We’re going to have to do that again.”

I smiled and touched his cheek. “How about right now?”

He gave me a lazy grin. “That can be arranged.” He pulled me up, so I was sitting on his lap facing him, and tugged me forward for another kiss. I would have been happy to stay like this forever. He moved away from my lips, and gently kissed my cheek, my jaw and down my neck, it felt so good.

He took a deep breath. “Mmm, you smell like cinnamon.” He was about to start back up to my lips when my phone beeped. “Leave it,” he whispered, his breath tickled my neck as he spoke. He returned to his slow journey upwards.

I moaned. “What if it’s my mom?” My voice was so low I wasn’t sure he heard me.

He pulled back slowly. “Okay, we probably should get back to reality anyway.”

I looked down at my phone, it was from my mom. “Where are you!!!” It read. “She’s worried. I should call her. What time is it?”

He glanced at his watch. “Three o’clock. Would you stay with me for a while, we can order pizza? No one will be home until later, my parents work late, and Logan never comes home before midnight on Friday nights.”

I liked the idea of staying with him; I didn’t want to leave yet. “Sure, I’d love to.”

He smiled so beautifully it took my breath away. I climbed off of his lap and sat down on his jacket that was still spread out on the ground, and dialed my mom’s cell.

“Hello Sarah, where are you?” she answered on the first ring, she sounded worried.

“I’m fine mom, something happened at school, but I don’t want to talk about it. I was a little shaken up, so Lucas brought me to his house to calm me down. I’m going to hang out here for awhile, okay?”

“Do you mean when Logan harassed you? I heard about it, and he is in so much

trouble-”

I cut her off. “No mom, you’ll only make it worse. Can we talk about it later?”

She sighed. “Okay, but I won’t forget, and his parents will hear about this.”

“No, I don’t want that either, we’ll talk later.”

“Fine. So you’re with Lucas? What are you doing?”

I blushed, thank god she couldn’t see. “We’re just hanging out watching a movie,” I lied. I heard Lucas laugh softly.

“Don’t be home too late.”

“Sure, bye.” I hung up, and glanced at Lucas. “Its fine, I can stay for awhile.”

He smiled, grabbed my hands and pulled me up off my feet. I squealed, surprised by his sudden change of mood, but was cut off as his lips pressed onto mine. He kissed me roughly; it excited me in new ways.

“Let’s go,” I said pushing him away. He bent down and picked up his coat. After he put it on, he took my hand and pulled me onto the path, back to his house.

Ch.11 First Date

We walked out of the trees, into his back yard. I followed him up the steps of the back deck, where he reached over the railing and pulled a hidden key off a hook.

“This is where we keep our spare key, if you ever want to sneak into my room at night to surprise me,” he said with an impish grin.

“Yeah, don’t hold your breath.”

He chuckled as he shoved the key in the lock and opened the door. We stepped inside into an enormous big, open kitchen with large stainless steel appliances that were so shiny you could see your reflection. A massive kitchen island stood in the center separating the appliances from the table. The cupboards were finished in white and some with glass. It was also very bright with silver light fixtures protruding from the ceiling. This was a kitchen that belonged to someone with a passion for cooking. It was obvious that his father had designed it; he was the chef at their family restaurant.

“You want a coke?” Lucas asked, opening the fridge.

“Sure, do you have diet?”

He took out a coke for himself and a diet for me, then led me into their living room. It was big, but very comfortable. In the center of the room, stood a fireplace with a flat screen TV on the wall above it. He sat down on the plush sofa and patted the seat beside him. I joined him as he turned on the TV, turning it to a movie I had never seen before, but I didn’t really pay attention, I was very aware of how close he was. Our legs were touching, and I could feel warmth emanating from his body.

He leaned back into the couch, wrapping his arm around me and pulled me against him. We sat snuggled on the couch watching the movie, his arm was so warm and comfortable there was no where else I wanted to be.

After the movie was over, he ordered pizza. When it was delivered, Lucas brought it over and placed it on the coffee table. Sitting down beside me, he handed me a greasy slice, it smelled so good I couldn’t wait to taste it.

While we ate, we listened to his new C.D. Lucas started telling me about some of the situations Andy and Kyle had gotten him into. That led us into a discussion about the kids we went to school with.

“How could you possibly stuff another piece into your stomach?” I asked Lucas, as he was about to bite into his fifth slice.

He smiled then took the bite. “It’s a talent. You’d be amazed at how much I can eat.”

“How come you’re so thin?”

“I work out.” He picked up a napkin, and wiped some tomato sauce that had dripped on his jeans.

I laughed.

“Why is that funny?”

“I just can’t picture you lifting weights; you know like those muscle guys that oil up their bodies.”

“There are other ways to work out, and I don’t do it to get muscles. I like it.”

“Okay, I still can’t see it; you're more the reading type.” I leaned forward and stacked our plates onto the pizza box.

“I can do both.” He balled up his napkin and threw it on the box.

“If you say so. Since we’re finished, I’ll help you clean up. I don’t want your mother to think I’m a pig.” I stood up, with the plates in my hand. Lucas grabbed the rest.

I followed him into the kitchen, he threw the pizza box away, and then turned to face me. “I’ve had a lot of fun tonight,” he said, taking the dishes out of my hands, and placing them in the sink. He backed me up against the kitchen counter. “I love being with you.” He leaned in to brush his lips against mine gently. “After work tomorrow night, do you want to hang out?”

“Sure, but how about my house? My mom said if we started seeing each other, she wanted you to meet my dad. Is that okay?”

“Why would your mom say that?”

I laughed. “She had a feeling this was going to happen when we had lunch at your parent’s restaurant.”

He looked embarrassed. “Right, the day I made an idiot of myself.”

“She said she felt something from both of us.”

He laughed. “Is she physic?” His hands moved to the sides of my arms gently rubbing up and down.

“Sometimes I think she might be.”

“Sure, we can hang out there. How about…I take you somewhere to eat first, then we’ll go back to your place.”

“Sounds good, I’m off at seven, so you can pick me up at seven thirty.”

He leaned in and kissed me again. “Okay,” he mumbled against my lips. His arms tightened around me as he guided me toward the living room, without taking his lips from mine. We had almost made it to the couch when his phone rang. “Damn! We need to turn our phones off when we do this.” He took his phone out of his pocket, while I sat down on the couch alone. “Hello,” he paused, as he listened, “no thanks, I’m busy…Yes, but I’m not going into details….no she’s right here…goodbye I’m hanging up now.” He growled, turning his phone off.

“Andy?” I asked, and he nodded.

“Come on I’ll show you my room.” He held my hand, leading me down a hallway and into the third door. It was a tad cluttered, with a wide dresser and a mirror against one wall. His bed was against the opposite one, with shelves above. They were cluttered with books, a few pictures and a couple of trophies. Like mine, his desk sat under the window. At the end of his bed was a basketball net, hanging on the wall above.

“You shoot hoops in bed?” I asked.

“When I’m bored.” He sat down on the bed, and watched me as I picked up the ball that was sitting on the floor. It was small, orange and made out of foam. I threw it at the net, and it went in. He picked it up and handed it back to me.

“Try it again” he said standing up. I lifted my hand to throw the ball, but was suddenly tackled onto the bed.

“Hey,” I said laughing, looking up at him. He was lying on top of me, his face hovering just inches from mine. “That’s a foul.”

He grinned, took the ball from me again, and threw it in the net.

“Oh, so you’re a cheater?”

"What are you going to do about it?" His smile widened as he stood up, pulling me with him. He started to shoot the ball again, when he lifted his arm, I jumped on him; we landed on the bed, this time with me on top of him. Both of us were laughing, but when I looked into his eyes I stopped, they were no longer filled with humor. He reached up and pulled my head down to his, for a long, deep kiss.

The front door slammed shut. I jumped up quickly, and he chuckled. “Relax,” he said, glancing at the clock, it was eight thirty. “It’s probably just my mom.” He took my hand. “Come on,” he said, pulling me out of his room.

We met his mother in the kitchen. I was very nervous. Although, when she turned her head and saw us, she smiled warmly. Her hair was dark like Lucas and Logan’s, but hers was thick and wavy, and it flowed just past her shoulders, she had blue eyes while theirs were brown. She was very pretty. “Well, you must be Sarah. It’s so nice to finally meet you. Lucas has been talking about you for weeks now.” She pealed off her long wool coat, and hung it up on a hook inside the kitchen door.

“Mother I have not, don’t embarrass me.” His face was slightly red.

“Oh you’re blushing, that’s so cute.” She was stifling a laugh at his expression. If looks could kill, she would be dead. “Sarah, I’m so sorry about what my other son did to you. That boy won’t be seeing the sun outside of work or school until he’s thirty five.”

Both Lucas and I were shocked, but Lucas spoke first, “Sarah, this is my mom Karen.” I nodded to her and was about to speak, when Lucas interrupted me. “How did you know what happened?”

“I have told you both that I have spies everywhere, so you better watch your step. And I don’t reveal my sources,” she said with a smirk on her face.

Lucas didn’t look fooled. “Lisa?” he asked.

“Yep. She told me that Logan harassed you, and Lucas saved the day.” She smiled, looking from me to Lucas; a look of pride shone from her face.

“Yes she’s right, but Sarah doesn’t want you to punish him, because she’s afraid he’ll think she ratted on him. She won’t even let her mother do something at school.”

Karen gave me a look of disapproval. “Sarah, he has to be punished. He can’t treat people the way he does, and get away with it. This time there are lots of witnesses.”

I wasn’t convinced. “I wasn’t hurt, and it’s over, I’d just rather forget it.”

They both looked like they didn’t agree. “Well, I’ll discuss it with their father and see. But Sarah I’ll make sure he knows I didn’t hear about it from either of you.”

I could see I wasn’t going to convince anyone. “Okay,” I said with a sigh, finally giving in.

She smiled. “So what were you kids up to?”

Lucas got us each bottle of water then pulled me to the table. I sat down on the chair next to him. He handed me my drink then answered. “Just hanging out, eating pizza.”

She looked skeptical. “Weren’t you coming from your room when I came in?”

I blushed. “He was just showing me his room.”

Lucas laughed. “Yeah and I kicked her butt at shooting hoops.”

“You cheated,” I said, and they both laughed at me. My phone rang. “Hello,” I answered, taking it from my pocket.

“Hey, are you still with Lucas?” Emma asked.

“Yes, why?” Lucas was whispering to his mother about the incident, and I was trying to silence him with my eyes. It wasn’t working.

“I’m sleeping over at your place tonight whether you like it or not. I’ve been going crazy wondering what’s going on with you.” Lucas looked over at me curiously, obviously finished squealing to his mother. “Sure I’ll meet you around ten.”

“Are you at his house?”

“Yes.”

“Okay I want all the details, I’ll see you later. I’ll have Derrick drop me off there. Can you give me a ride home tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

After we said our goodbyes, I hit the end button on my cell.

“Was that Emma?”

I nodded. “Can you take me to my car now? I should get home soon.”

“Sure,” he said, pulling me off of my chair. “See you later mom.”

Karen smiled at me. “It was so nice to meet you Sarah. I hope you’ll come back soon?”

I returned her smile. “Of course, it was nice meeting you too.”

Lucas took my hand and steered me to the front door. When we were outside he asked, “That wasn’t so bad was it?” I lifted my eyebrows at him in question. “You looked nervous when my mom came home,” he explained.

“Well we were in your room. I didn’t want her to get the wrong idea.” He held the car door open for me, and then shut it when I got in.

“Who’s Lisa?” I asked as he pulled out of the driveway. He looked confused at my question. “Earlier, when you were talking to your mom, she said her source was Lisa.”

He smiled. “Oh… Lisa Miller, she’s in the eleventh grade. She’s a hostess at the restaurant, and she knows everything that goes on at school. I have no idea how. This one time, I guess Logan cheated on a math test. Lisa found out and told my mom, she took his cell phone away for a month. He thought I told her, and he punched me.”

“He hit you?” I asked horrified.

He laughed. “Don’t worry; remember when I said he can’t take me. He walked away with a black eye.” He laughed at my expression, I wasn’t used to violence. “He may act like a tough guy, but I’m the one in the basement using the heavy bag all the time.” He stopped at a red light.

“A heavy bag?”

“You know in boxing, with boxing gloves,” he said, pulling away again.

“Oh right, I thought that was called a punching bag.” I stared at him confused. It didn’t seem like something he’d do. “You hit a heavy bag? Why?”

“I told you that I work out, that’s how. It’s very therapeutic. I started when I was a kid. It was my dad’s, but I sort of took it over. When I first started, I couldn’t even move the thing. Then when I did manage to get it to budge, it swung back and knocked me over.”

I thought about it. “Huh…I really can’t see you doing that.”

“I’ll show you sometime.” We were at the school parking lot now, and he pulled into the spot beside my car.

“You mean you want to show off?”

“Pretty much,” he said, and we both laughed.

I looked out the window at the school grounds. It was spooky at night with no one else around. “Can I see your phone?” he asked. I had no idea why he’d want it, but I handed it to him anyway. He typed something into it, then took out his own and did the same. “There, now our numbers are programmed into each others phone, if you need to call me, you can.”

I liked the idea of calling him whenever I wanted. “Well I guess I should go, Emma will be at my house soon.”

He climbed out of the car, walked around, and opened my door. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“Walking you to you car.” Oh, a gentleman, I could get use to this. He took my hand, and we walked the few steps to my car. When I unlocked the door, he pulled me in his arms for a very gentle kiss before separating.

Every time I looked in the rear-view mirror during the drive home, he was always behind me. It made me feel safe.

I pulled up to my house and got out.

Lucas stopped his car on the side of the road but stayed inside.

I walked over to him, leaned into the open window, and gave him a quick kiss. “See you tomorrow.”

“I’ll pick you up at seven thirty, have fun with Emma tonight.”

I watched him drive away then went inside.

“Sarah is that you?” my mom called from the living room.

“Yes.” I walked over to where she sat on the arm chair with a book laying open on her lap.

“Good, I’m glad you’re home, I was worried. I know you were with Lucas, but I’m a mother, that’s what we do.” She added after I started to speak. “So did you have fun?”

I blushed, and turned my head, so she wouldn’t notice. “Yeah, I had a lot of fun.”

She grinned. “What did you do?”

I didn’t want to tell her everything. I had such a wonderful time with him; I wanted to keep it to myself. “We just hung out at his house and talked a lot. He is a really great guy.”

She seemed satisfied with that. “So it’s getting serious? I knew it. Are you going to introduce him to us?”

“Actually, he’s taking me out for dinner tomorrow night, and then we’re going to hang out here for the rest of the night. So Dad can meet him then. I’m going up to my room, Emma’s staying the night, send her up when she gets here, okay?” I yelled over my shoulder as I walked up the stairs.

“Okay.” I heard her yell faintly.

Inside my room, I threw my backpack on the floor by my desk, and lay down on my bed, replaying my day over and over in my head. I had such a great time with him, I didn’t want to leave. When we kissed, I felt things I never imagined I could feel.

Emma walked through the door and bounced onto the bed, ending my reverie. “So, how did your day go?” she asked, grinning wickedly.

“Fine, how was yours?” I tried not to show any emotion and leaned over to grab my book.

She took it out of my hands. “Oh no, you don’t! Spill, I’ve been going crazy.”

I laughed at her; she was a person who thrived on gossip. She had to know everything that went on with her friends. Usually in my case there wasn’t much to know. “Well we hung out at his house, ordered pizza, and watched a movie.”

She looked disappointed. “That’s it?” she asked, her face horror stricken.

“Well I met his mom, she was very nice.”

“Oh, come on! You know what I mean, did he kiss you?”

I smiled and brushed the hair out of my face. “Oh that’s what you wanted to know, why didn’t you say so?” I was literally driving her crazy, she looked like she was about to blow.

“Okay!” I said laughing at her. “Yes, he kissed me several times. But that’s all you’re getting.”

“So, how was it? Is he a keeper?”

I groaned. “Definitely, we have plans for dinner tomorrow, and hanging out here afterward.”

We smiled at each other. “Isn’t it cool that we both have boyfriends?” she asked.

“I don’t know if he’s my boyfriend. It just happened today.”

“Oh please, you two have been pining for each other for weeks. Believe me, that’s what he is.”

My phone beeped, I had a text message. I reached for it and read, “Sweet dreams. Lucas.” I was touched at his message until Emma grabbed the phone from me, and read it.

“Oh, he is so your boyfriend.” I laughed as I tossed a pillow at her, which earned a smack in the head from hers.

Ch.12 Followed

I forced my eyes open, regretting the late night. We didn’t get to sleep until about two am. The clock read nine in the morning, and I still felt a little groggy. The sky was gray outside my window, which only made me want to stay inside my soft, warm blankets even more.

"Get up," Emma shook me. "You have to drive me to work." She worked at Pizzazz, a woman’s clothing store in the mall.

"Fine," I grumbled, climbing out of bed, stumbling to the washroom.

"I'll meet you downstairs." I heard her yell from the hallway.

"How the hell is she so perky?" I mumbled to myself as I hopped in the shower.

The hot water helped wake me up and my thoughts went to Lucas, which put me in a really good mood. My spirits were still high when I got to work. That must have been the reason I didn’t mind so much when I was assigned to the concession stand. It didn’t even bother me when a whiny little girl sneezed on my hand, or that a four year old boy knocked a container of popcorn all over me. Although, I was thankful to take my break…until Zack walked in.

I sat at the far table, enjoying my diet coke and dill pickle chips, when he and a few other people I work with came in talking about one of the movies that was playing.

“Hey Sarah,” Zack said, plunking down in the chair next to mine.

“Hey,” I answered, leaning back in my seat, balancing my pop can on my knee.

“What time are you off?”

It was hard to hear him, Jack and Chloe were arguing behind us about what movie they were going to watch when their shift was over.

I swallowed the chip I had just stuffed in my mouth. “Seven o’clock.”

He smiled. “Me two, do you want to stay and watch a movie with me.”

Oh god, did he mean like a date? “Oh, sorry I have plans tonight.” I tried to look disappointed. There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, until he started talking about the film he wanted to see.

I glanced at the old, dusty white clock on the back wall, and stood up to leave. My break was over.

“Maybe some other time.” I heard him say just as I was about to step out the door. I was so close. I cursed myself for not walking out sooner, or making up an excuse.

“Sure,” I said with a wave. I left the break room feeling uncomfortable with what had happened.

Around five thirty, I received a text from Lucas that said: “Finished work, have news on Logan. See u @ 7:30.” What did that mean, news on Logan? Great, that was going to drive me crazy until I saw him.

At seven o’clock, I signed out and headed outside. The lot was empty since the movies were still running, and while walking toward my car, I dropped my keys. Bending down to pick them up, I could still hear footsteps, even though I was no longer walking. I stood up and spun around. “Hello?” I yelled, when I didn’t see anyone around. I listened for an answer, or something that told me someone was just making their way to their car, but the parking lot was silent. The only sounds were in the distance. I took another step, and stopped quickly. Again I heard the footsteps. “Hello is anyone there?” I repeated, my voice wavered a little. Nothing. A shiver ran down my spine as I started running to my car, now the sounds of heavy footfalls echoed behind me.

Yanking my door open, I stumbled inside, sliding the key into the ignition. Once the engine roared to life, I stepped on the gas, and drove away as fast as I could.

Through the rear-view mirror, I saw a hooded figure standing where my car had been parked, staring after me. Fear overwhelmed me as I drove. Someone had followed me last week and now this? Why was this happening, and who was that?

I glanced down at my hands, and saw that they were shaking. I needed time to calm down, so I pulled into the corner store near my house. I couldn’t let my family or Lucas see me like this. Taking a few deep breaths, I slid a CD into the stereo, hoping to take my mind off the hooded man. I sat for a while singing my favorite song, thankful no one I knew saw me sitting in an empty corner store by myself, singing along to the radio. They would think I was nuts.

When I finally calmed down enough, I was a few minutes late to meet Lucas.

I drove fast to my house to try to beat him, but when I pulled up to the driveway, his car was already there, parked out front. Crap. How was I going to explain why I was late? I glanced in the mirror to see if it was obvious that I was shaken up. My face was a bit pale, but as long as no one looked too close, I could slip upstairs and splash water on my face.

“Hey,” I said stepping into the living room where my parents and Lucas were talking. Lucas turned around smiling. When he saw my face, his expression changed to concern.

“I’m sorry I’m late. Work was busy, and it took awhile to get away,” I lied.

Lucas didn’t appear convinced. His eyes were still clouded with worry. “That’s okay, I haven’t been here long.”

“We’re planning a guitar hero competition for later tonight. Lucas thinks he can beat me,” my dad was grinning as he stood leaning against our couch with his arms folded in front of him.

“Oh…okay. I’ll be right back. I’m going to go change.”

My parents went into the kitchen while Lucas followed me to the stairs. He grabbed my arm before I could start up the steps. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just feel bad that I’m late.”

With his brow furrowed, he hesitantly let go of my arm.

“I won’t be long,” I said, trying to reassure him with a pasted on smile. I rushed up the stairs, feeling guilty for lying.

In my room, I changed into a jean skirt with black tights, red shirt and a short, black leather jacket. Lastly, I fluffed my hair, and reapplied my make up. I looked less shaken, and I hoped Lucas would no longer be concerned. How could he tell I was upset? We hadn’t known each other that long.

I met him downstairs, and we said our goodbye to my parents.

The night sky held a chill, which was normal for mid October. My jacket was thin, choosing it for looks, not warmth. I zipped it up and folded my arms in front of me.

“You look beautiful,” Lucas said as he leaned in for a kiss. That was all it took to make me forget the cold weather, and what happened earlier, flattery from my maybe boyfriend.

My cheeks flushed. “Thank you.”

He opened the car door for me, walked over to the driver’s side, and climbed in.

“So where are we going?” I asked, once we pulled away from my house.

“What do you think about the Chinese Dragon on Main Street?”

“I love it. They have the best Chinese food in town.”

“Yeah I know. I go there a lot, just don’t tell my parents.”

“Your secret’s safe with me. Why would they care though, they don’t sell Chinese food, do they?”

“No, but it’s still a restaurant. I eat there when I want something different.”

“Like I said, I won’t tell.” I was in a much better mood, being near him calmed me.

He pulled into the restaurant parking lot, turned off the car, and turned to me. “Are you going to tell me what was really wrong, when you got home from work?”

“I had a long day, that’s all. Now let’s go, I’m starving.” I smiled, hoping he wouldn’t push it any further. He must have believed me, because he opened his door, and climbed out. We held hands as we headed into the restaurant.

Once we were seated at a table, I asked him what he meant in the text he sent me.

“Logan lost his car for three weeks,” he said grinning.

“Oh no, is he mad?” And was he going to take it out on me?

“He wasn’t happy. He thinks one of us told my mom, so he tried to pick a fight with me. But I was in too good a mood last night, I just walked away.”

“Why were you in a good mood?”

“I kissed the prettiest girl in school.”

“Who, Sherry Summers? That Bitch!”

He laughed. “I said the prettiest, and that would be you!”

I was happy and embarrassed at the same time. I turned my head before my cheeks turned red.

When the waitress came to our table, we ordered two sodas, and a variety of dishes to share. “So how was work?” he asked taking a sip of his drink. The waitress had set it in front of him.

I took a sip of my diet coke before I answered. “Good, it was fairly steady, so it went fast enough. Oh, and Zack asked me out on a date.”

“What?” he asked wide eyed. “Who’s Zack?”

“A guy at work, he started about three weeks ago. He’s okay, a bit weird maybe.”

“Why do you say that?” He leaned back in his chair waiting for my answer.

I sighed, I hadn’t planned on explaining, but since I started, I had to finish. “Marcy Becker told me that on his first night working, he asked a lot of questions about me, even though we hadn’t met yet.”

“That is weird. Why would he do that?”

“Well my assistant manager mentioned my name, and Marcy said he looked like he recognized it.”

His hand that lay on the table, balled into a fist. I looked at him curiously, but he smiled, picked up his drink, and took a sip. His hand shook slightly. “Did you know him before?”

“No.” I glanced around the restaurant, hoping he would drop the subject.

The waitress came with our meal. The food smelled and looked delicious, I couldn’t wait to try it.

“What did you tell him about tonight when he asked you out?” he asked, his face took on a worried expression.

I waited until the waitress finished laying out our food before I spoke, “I told him that I had plans.” I filled my plate with my favorites: rice, chicken balls and chow mien.

Lucas chose ribs, chicken balls, spicy beef and orange chicken. Typical guy, all meat, and no vegetables.

“Didn’t you tell him that you had a boyfriend, so he doesn’t ask you again?”

I froze, holding my fork in mid air, about to take a bite. “Do I have a boyfriend? Is that what you are?” I was a little nervous to hear his answer.

“I hope so?” His sudden looked of uncertainty was sweet.

“Then, if he asks me out again, I’ll tell him that I can’t, because I’m dating a very sweet guy.” My cheeks reddened as I spoke the words.

He smiled that beautiful smile that made my knees go weak. “Good. Then I don’t have to punch him out.”

I laughed and began my meal. We ate silently, enjoying the food.

Lucas tried using his chopsticks, but kept dropping his food. He didn’t give up too easily though, it was fun to watch. Finally, he managed to grasp a chicken ball between the two sticks. “I did it,” he said triumphantly, holding it up in the air. His finger twitched. Loosing his grip, the chicken ball fell and rolled on the floor, landing beside the shoe of a very large man with long, curly black hair. He was dressed in leather. Biker dude was what popped in my head.

I started to laugh, but a quick terrified look from Lucas silenced me.

The man glanced down at the red-sauce, soaked chicken ball and then at Lucas. His black boot now had a spot of red on the edge. The man smiled and went back to his meal.

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief. I started to giggle again, this time he joined me. “I guess it’s time to use this,” he said, picking up his fork.

When we finished our food, Lucas asked our waitress for the bill.

“You know, you don’t have to play video games with my dad tonight, we can just watch a movie in my room if you want.” I asked, after finishing off my soda.

“No, it’s okay. Playing video games sounds fun. How about we hang out with your dad for a bit, so he can get to know me. Then we’ll head to your room. We don’t even have to watch a movie,” he added wiggling his eyebrows. I chose to ignore his last comment.

The waitress brought the bill, and after Lucas paid, we headed outside.

Inside the car, I leaned over and gave him a kiss. Every time our lips touched, I felt a warm, tingly jolt inside my stomach.

He pulled back. “What was that for?” he asked smiling.

“Thank you for dinner.” I ran my fingers in his hair and yanked him forward. I kissed him again, and this time took it deeper. He drew away again but only to gently kiss my jaw. He traveled down toward my neck, lingering there. I started breathing faster. He brought his lips back to mine, but this time the kiss was more aggressive. We were both breathing heavily when we finally withdrew from each other, deciding it was time to head home.

We drove home silently, holding hands. “I had a really good time tonight, your fun to be with Lucas.” I was feeling really happy, and I wanted him to know it was because of him.

“I love being with you Sarah, I have a hard time leaving you.”

I nodded my head and glanced out the window. The sudden fierceness in his tone surprised me.

For the rest of the night, we were immersed in a cutthroat game of Guitar Hero World Tour. My dad and Lucas each played the guitar. I played the drums, and my mom sang. Alex was out with his friends, so thank god no one was around to witness me and my boyfriend hanging out with my parents. Lucas was usually in the lead, which led me to believe he had played many times before. It was weird; we actually had a lot of fun. My dad and Lucas laughed at my mom’s singing, and my lack of drumming abilities. While, we teased them about having nothing better to do than play video games. After about an hour, I had enough.

“Okay that’s enough for me. Luke, do you want to come upstairs and watch a movie?” He and my dad looked heartbroken. “Or, I could leave you here to play while I go up and watch one.”

He smiled pulling the strap over his head and placing the guitar against the wall. “No I’ll come with you.” He turned to my dad. “That was fun Mr. Samson. Next time I’ll bring over my Mario Cart, and we can race.”

My Dad smiled. “Call me Jim and you’re on.” Dads smile faded. “Sarah, I don’t know if I want you two in your room alone.”

He was about to say more when I cut him off. “Give me a break, Dad.” I took Lucas’s hand and pulled him up the stairs.

Ch.13 Late Night

“Are you sure you should shut the door, after what your dad just said,” Lucas asked, once we were inside my room.

I smirked at him. “If he has a problem with it, he can open it.”

I took a few movies out of my collection, and placed them in front of him to pick one. He chose one of my favorites, a thriller called Disturbia. I put it in, and we sat down on the small couch in the corner of my room.

“Hey, how about some popcorn or chips?” I asked him.

He thought about it. “You probably get sick of popcorn at work, so how about some chips?”

“Good call. I’ll be back in a minute.” I stood up and headed downstairs

I had just taken the last step onto the carpet, when I heard, “Sarah, I like him very much, but if he tries to push you into something your not ready for, I will throw him out on his ass!” My dad gestured wildly in the direction of my bedroom. He was pacing at the bottom of the stairs.

I glanced at him, then at my mother to explain.

She was sitting on the couch facing him. She laughed. “He’s been pacing ever since you went upstairs, and we heard your door shut.”

I tried to stifle my laughter. “Dad, relax we’re just watching a movie. I shut the door because I didn’t want to feel like you were listening at the bottom of the stairs.” I raised my eyebrows waiting for him to deny it.

His lips pressed firmly together, and then he sighed deeply. “Fine, maybe I’m overreacting. I’ll sit in the living room with your mother.” He raised his arms in defeat and did what he said he would, taking the far side of the couch that just happened to have a perfect view of the staircase. He looked up the steps, and then at me, showing me that he’d be watching.

I rolled my eyes at him, and strolled into the kitchen, taking out some chips from the pantry, and a couple of sodas from the fridge.

My mom came in as I was leaving. “You two are cute together honey,” she said smiling. “But I’ve got to say, I’m having a blast watching your father have a panic attack.” She opened the coffee pot, and started scooping coffee grounds into the filter. The strong smell of coffee filled the kitchen.

“Why aren’t you worried like he is?”

“I trust you both, and I know Lucas better than your dad does. Don’t worry he’ll get used to it.” She poured water into the machine, turned on the coffee pot, and set it for morning.

I smiled at her, she was happy for me, and that made me feel good. I kissed her on the cheek. “Thank you for trusting me,” I said before heading up the stairs.

On the top step, I stopped to listen to my parents argue quietly about letting me and Lucas stay in my room. I laughed softly, my dad was so funny. I had never seen this side of him.

I fumbled with my doorknob, afraid to drop one of the cokes. The door flew open, and Lucas took the drinks out of my hand. “Thank you,” I said, shutting the door behind me.

I dropped the chips on the coffee table, and we settled on the couch to watch the movie. He put his hand on my leg, and softly rubbed, it felt nice.

“My dad said if you try anything I’m not ready for he’ll throw you out on your ass.” I laughed at his expression; he looked terrified. He slowly lifted his hand away.

“Of course he said that, after he told me that he really liked you.” I laughed softly. Reaching over, I cupped my hand around his and guided it back onto my leg. “I was kidding, it’s okay.”

“He didn’t really say that?” He was visibly relieved.

“Oh, he said it, but don’t worry, my mom and I will protect you.” His eyes widened. “Don’t worry, my dad likes you.”

“Okay,” he said, still unsure. I leaned in and kissed him. He kissed me back but cut it short; worried my father was listening at the door.

We shifted our positions, so he was sitting against the arm of the couch, I sat leaning against him. “Do you want to go to a movie tomorrow night?” he asked, wrapping his arms around me. The warmth of his arms and the sweet, spicy smell of his cologne made me feel safe and content.

“Sure, I’d love to. What time?”

“I get off at two. Do you know when the next movie starts?”

“There’s a good thriller that just opened, that starts at Seven o’clock.”

“I guess we’ll have some time to kill, do you mind if I come over after work and hang out until it’s time to go?” He was leaning his chin in the top of my head. I could hear and feel him crunching on his chips.

“Of course I don’t mind.”

We grew quiet as we both became wrapped up in the plot. The neighbor was starting to terrorize the teenage boy named Kale. I shoved my face into Lucas’ arm when the psycho took out the chainsaw and was swinging it over their heads. “Are you seriously afraid?” he asked me with laughter in his voice.

“I’m not afraid. I just don’t like to see guts and gore. But I’ve seen this at least twenty times. Nothing gets chopped off.”

He smiled and kissed the top of my head. We grew silent again, watching the end of the movie.

The next thing I knew, I was running hand in hand in a meadow with Lucas. He tripped, and I fell on top of him. We started kissing and rolling around on the grass until he was on top of me. A feeling of intense love overwhelmed me, almost taking my breath away. I took off his shirt, gazed into his eyes and whispered, “I love you David.”

He smiled down at me, his eyes held the same intense emotion that I was feeling. “Katie,” he whispered. “You are my life, my love, my joy.”

I woke up with a start. Half asleep, I glanced around at my surroundings. I was still on the couch with Lucas’ arms around me. I could hear his heavy breathing behind me. The TV was black; the movie must have ended, and shut off on its own.

“My love, my joy,” Lucas whispered in his sleep.

Those were the same words I just heard in my dreams. Was he having the same one? How is that possible? This was getting spooky. Should I tell him that we were having the same dream? What did it mean? My head was full of questions and absolutely no answers as I glanced around the room. My eyes widened when I saw the red numbers on my digital clock radio, it was three am.

I stood up, and slipped out into the hall. The house was quiet, my parents and brother were in bed. I can’t believe my father didn’t wake us. I thought about leaving Lucas sleeping, he looked so peaceful, but I was sure his mother would be worried if he didn’t come home.

Shaking his shoulder, I whispered in his ear, “Lucas.”

He jumped up onto his feet with a bewildered look on his face. I laughed; I couldn’t help it, he looked so comical, his eyes were wide, and his head was bobbing around. “Holy shit, I fell asleep.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “Your dad is going to kill me.”

I reached up to stroke his shoulders, trying to soothe him. “Relax, I fell asleep too. He must have checked on us when they went to bed. I don’t understand why they didn’t wake us up though. I wanted to let you sleep, but I figured your mom would be worried.”

He looked over at the clock and frowned. “Yeah she will be. I’d better go.” He bent down to kiss me softly. “So I guess we slept together. Was it good for you?” he said with a grin.

I gave him a shove, knocking him off balance.

He laughed. “I’m awake now, walk me down? So you can lock the door behind me.”

I kissed him goodbye in front of the open door. “See you tomorrow, I’ll try to call you from work,” he called over his shoulder as he stepped through the doorway.

I turned the lock and peeked out the small window, watching his car pull away before I went back upstairs.

“So he’s just leaving now?” my dad asked, standing in front of my bedroom door. He had bed head and was wearing his red plaid flannel robe.

“What are you doing awake? I just peeked in your room, you and mom were sleeping.”

“I woke up when I heard you going downstairs. I looked in on you when we went to bed at midnight, and you were sleeping, so I wanted to check every few hours to make sure that’s all you were doing.”

“Why didn’t you just wake us up?”

“I didn’t want you to think I don’t trust you.”

I raised an eyebrow, his actions earlier told me differently.

His forehead creased. “Honey, your mother had a rather long chat with me about my behavior tonight. I do trust you, but I’m not used to you having a boyfriend. Those others guy’s you dated didn’t mean anything to you. I knew that, so when I saw how serious you and Lucas seemed to be tonight, I panicked. But I’m over it. Okay?”

Leaning up, I kissed him on the cheek. “Okay, goodnight dad.”

He grunted, heading back to his room and I went in mine.

I lay on my bed wondering if Lucas made it home yet, replaying the dream in my mind, the memory of how I felt as I gazed into the dream Lucas’ eyes shocked me. I have never felt such a strong emotion and didn’t realize it was possible. It was strange how strong the feeling toward him was, since I haven’t known him that long. The odd thing was, although I liked Lucas a lot, more than I thought possible, my feelings were no where near as strong as they were in the dream. Not yet anyway. My phone beeped, waking me from my thoughts.

I leaned over and picked it up off my nightstand. It read: ‘I’m home, see you tomorrow. Luke.’


The next morning, after my shower, I did my homework. There wasn’t much, since I skipped my last two classes on Friday. My mother hadn’t mentioned it all weekend. I hoped that meant she had forgotten, but I knew that I wouldn’t get that lucky.

I went downstairs to have some cereal. The smell of bacon changed my mind.

“So what’s up for today?” my mother asked me from the kitchen table. My parents were having their breakfast, and reading the paper.

“Not much, but tonight I’m going to the movies with Lucas.”

She smiled, tucking her disheveled hair behind her ear. “Did you do your homework?”

“Yes, I just finished it before I came down.”

“Don’t be out too late, you have school tomorrow.” She took a bite of her toast.

“I know mom, don’t worry about it. Hey dad, are you feeling better than you were last night?” I asked, grinning at him. There was a plate of bacon and eggs, sitting on the counter, I picked it up and sat down with my parents.

“Yes. I told you that I’d work on it. But just don’t stay out until three am, Okay.”

I laughed. “I’ll try.”

“Emma called, when you were in the shower,” my mom said, getting up from the table, to putt her dishes in the dishwasher.

“Okay thanks, I’ll call her when I finish breakfast.”

“Hey what are we doing today?” Emma asked, once I returned to my room and called her.

“Why, what’s up with Derrick?”

“Ugh…he’s stuck visiting his Aunt for the day. I’m bored; please tell me Lucas is working so you can hang out with me.” I could hear a familiar buzzing sound on Emma’s end of the line, and I knew it was her cat freckles purring. I could picture her sprawled back on her pillows with her legs lifted up against the wall, and her very overweight cat laying on the pillow beside her.

“Lucas is working, so I can hang out with you?”

“Really? Damn I’m good. What else will you do if I tell you to?”

“Nothing. How about lunch, I’m buying.”

“Ooh, I knew there was a reason we were friends. Okay since you’re buying, I’ll drive. I’ll pick you up in twenty minutes.”

“Sure, I’ll meet you out front.” I hung up, rushed into the washroom. I didn’t have a chance to tell her where I wanted to go.

Authors Notes

Okay well first of all im sorry for not continuing the story right now,as it happens i spilled water all over my note book and the ink ruined around 40 pages so i'll defiantly continue the story momentarily.
Once Again sorry for the hiccup,thank you for reading this far
reviews ALWAYS welcome.
Courtney.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 16.10.2011

Alle Rechte vorbehalten

Widmung:
I dedicate this novel to my beautiful baby sister Amelle.